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This is to certify that the
thesis entitled
ON THE WHITE MAN'S ROAD?
ACCULTURATION AND THE FORT MARION
SOUTHERN PLAINS PRISONERS

presented by

Pamela Holcomb Oestreicher

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph- D. degree in Wag}!

 

 

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CN'IHEMETEI‘MN'SKJAD?
AmnflURATImANDTl-IEPURI‘MARICNSGIHERNPLADTSPRISQNERS

By

Pamela tblooub Oestreicher

A DISSERTATION

Sibnnfitted to
Michigm State Ihmerait;r
in partial fulfilment of the requimts
for the degree of

warm

Department of Antl'xropologr

1981

ABSTRACT

m'D-IEWII‘IEMN'SROAD?
ACXIHIURATICNAMD'DIEFOKIMARIQISOUD-IERNPIAINSPRISG‘IERS

By
Pamela Holomb Oestreicher

In 1875 , seventy-two warriors-Mrs of tin Southern
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Camache tribes-were arrested for
their participatim in the Red River War. As their pmislmait, they
were sent to Fort Marion, Florida, where they were held as prisoners
for three years. At Fort Marian, their superintendent was Lt. Richard
tarry Pratt, who took the opportunity to apply his ideas for American-
izing American Indians. This study traces the inpact of his efforts
at the lives of the prismers after their release.

Natty-two of the m1, all yomger warriors, chose to go at to
schools in 1878 rather that return directly to India: Territory. After
Their additimal educatim , nearly all these men lived markedly pro-
greasive-—i.e. , "civilized"--1ives by the standards of their reserva-
tions. The older warriors, who did not attend school, did not respcnd
tniformly. The Cheyennes, after an initial period of enthusiasm for
the lhite Man's Road, mostly abandoned it to join the extreuely oon-
servative factim. 'lhe Kiowa and Camuche did not at first maninous-
_ 1y adopt the “rite Man's Road, but steadily mved towards it. In both
cases, the lives of the olderwm'riors reflected the trendsand cardi-
tims of their reservaticns, although the Kiowa and Coumchewere

mre progressive.

Panela Iblcarb Oestreidter

The adaptive strategies mdel is mre successful in explaining
these cmclusions thm traditimal acculturatim theory. It postulates
thatpeople cmsciouslychange theirbehaviorto fit d'ianged circm—
stances; that they change their behavior as little as possible,
working fran their traditimal cultural base; that culture chztges as
as groups of individuals nuke similar changes. (11 the reservatims of
the South Plains fran 1875 to the early 1900's, acculturaticn was slow,
although the people changed their cultures to fit the new situatim.
'lhey creatively adapted their lives and institutims to fit their needs
without abmdming their identities as Indians. The retumed prisoners
mybeseentohavebeenuoreprogressivebecause theirewerienoes
broadened their range of choices; they were not limited to the ver-
nacular of their olchr cultures, but to a substantial &gree, their
choices were circumcribed by the attitudes md practices of those
aromd them. i

© .
Copyright by
{gigs 1mm catamaran

'Iheorigins ofthisstudylieinthephotographstakatofthe
Fort Maricn prismers by several southern photographers . Without timir
record of this episode, I might never have wandered what Plains Indians
were doing, in an old fort in Florida in the 1870's, nuch less what
happened to than after their stay there.

For mare that a decade, Professors Harry Brown and Charles C.
Cleland have encouraged me to cmtinue my work. I am grateful for their
persistent support and their confidence that whatever I mtgu: produce
would eventually be good.

'me staffs of the various archives where I didmy researchwere
mfailingly courteous and helpful, but the staff of tie (ltlahotna State
Historical Society, Indian Archives , deserve special recognition. They
made mcmrfortable stays in Oklahara City nuch nnre bearable, and Martha
Royce Elaine's solicitous research assistance, encouragement, and even
emergency medical care, cmtributed enornrmsly to the successful carple-
ticn of the study. Thanks also go to the friendly people at the Cmcho
and Anadarko agencies; they provided crucial informtion with interest
and skill.

The American Philosophical Society Phillips Find provided a
grant for ethnohistory which nude the last and mat productive of my
research trips possible.

The University of Pittsburgh history departumt, chaired by
Seymur Drescher, mterially cmtributed to the coupletim of this

ii

dissertatim by providing euploymt, office space , and couputer word
processing access at exactly the right mauent.

Other graduate students can help each other in very special ways.
To Judy, for a wmderful summer of nutual suffering; to Pat, for en-
during friaidship even over thousands of miles; and to Ame, for knowing
I mild do it--thaiks.

Finally, thanks go to Herbert and Fay Holcoub, for teaching me
to be curious, and to Dick Oestreicher, for brilliant criticism, cmstant

nagging, and loving atpport.

TAKEOFWIS

List of Maps

List of Tables

List of Abbreviatims

Chapter 1. Introducticn

Chapter 2. The Road to Fort Mini
Chapter 3. Fort Marim

Chapter 4. Reservation Life: 1878-1912
Chapter 5. The Older Warriors
Chapter 6. The Youig Scholars
Chapter 7. Cmclusicns

Appendix A. List of Indians
Appendix B. Priscner Biographies
Bibliography

iv

Page

Page

Page
Page
Page
Page
Page
Page
Page

186
226
244

, 247

292

Mapl.
MapZ.
Map3.

Masz.

LIS'I'OFMAPS

Positims Circa 1840 of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Camache
page 30

Locaticn of the Cheyenne and Arapaho and Comanche, Kiowa and
Apache Reservations page 77

Allotnents on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation
page 111

Allotnents on the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache Reservation
page 135

LISTOFTAEIES

Table 1. Indices of Civilizatim page 177
Table 2. Education of Children page 183
Table 3. The Adaptatims of the Older Warriors page 184

llSTOFABBREVIATIfl‘IS

AG Adjutant General

Am Adjutant General‘s Office

BAE Bureau of Amrican Ethnology
05A Cheyenne and Arapaho

CIA Couurissicner of Indian Affairs
KA Kiowa Agmcy

LR Letters Received

15 letters Sent

NA National Archives

(HSIA (klaham Historical Society, Indian Archives
PP Pratt Papers

W) War Departnalt

Chapter 1

Introduction

I saw 72 big Indians yesterday: proper men, and
tall, as one would wish to behold . They were weary
and greatly worn; but as they stepped out of the
cars..., and folded their ample blankets about them,
there was a larg dignity and majestic sweep about
their movements that made me much desire to salute
their grave excellencies. Each had his ankles
chained together; but managed to walk like a man,
withall. They are confined, --by some ass who is in
authority--in the lonely old Fort, as unfit for them
as they for it. It is in my heart to hope sincerely
that they may all get out. (Sidney Lanier to Mary
Day Lanier, May 22, 1875, quoted in Petersen, 1971,

p. 3.)

The Indians were Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, and
Arapaho, rounded up in the Southern Plains for violently
refusing to accept starvation on their newly established
reservations. The 'ass' was then Lt. Richard Henry Pratt,
late of Fort Leavenworth, and volunteer care-taker and
superintendent of the Florida prisoners. Three years later
(1878), many of them did “get out,” and, after a brief stop
in Virginia, go home to Indian Territory. This study will
trace the lives of these prisoners to learn how they fared
back among their own people. Specifically, I shall attempt
to discover whether or not, and in what ways the Fort Marion

experience influenced their lives and, in turn, whether or

not it influenced through them the course of culture change
on their reservations.

Early in the 1870’s, reservations were created for
the Indians of the Southern Plains in the region then known
as Indian Territory. All these groups were nomadic buffalo
hunters, used to a life of constant mobility and self-
reliance. Their societies valued skill in hunting and
prowess in battle. To them, boundaries marked on maps were
meaningless, especially when pursuit of the few remaining
animals of the near extinct southern buffalo herd required
unrestrained movement. Restriction of that pursuit was
justifiable cause for violence.

By 1874, the Indian people were starving: the
buffalo herd was markedly depleted, and the government was
failing to deliver promised rations and services. Years of
hostility and warfare had added to the Indians’ distrust of
settlers, agents, and the military. Many of them chose to
disregard treaty restrictions and to hunt off their
reservations. If buffalo could not be found, raids were
made against White-owned farms and ranches. Others decided
to openly attack the White people they believed were causing
their misery, especially surveyors and hunters. The
violation of treaty conditions and increasing violence led
the military to initiate a policy of vigorous pursuit of the
scattered bands. Officially, only violators were the

targets, but in practice, the military adopted ”scorched

earth” tactics--villages and stores of food were burned. By
1875 , the beaten and starving Indians were forced to come
in to their agencies. To insure that they would never again
be enticed to the warpath or away from their reservations,
the military decided to arrest the ringleaders and to send
them, "as an example," to prison in Florida.

At Fort Leavenworth, by fortuitous circumstance, was
Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, serving with the 10th Cavalry.
After several years in Indian Territory participating in the
pacification of the Indians, Pratt had developed his own
ideas about the proper management of Indian populations. He
became committed to education--specifically vocational
training--as a solution to the Indian problem. So convinced
was he of the efficacy of his plan, that he wrote to General
Sheridan requesting that he be assigned to accompany the
Indian prisoners to Fort Marion and to direct their
treatment there. Sheridan, in turn, recommended Pratt to
the Secretary of War, and on May 17, 1875, Pratt and his
Indian charges left for Florida.

Almost immediately Pratt began to implement his
program at Ft. Marion. He issued uniforms to the Indians,
ordered their hair cut, began a sanitation program. He
established a tent city for them within the fort, and
planned expeditions to neighboring islands and towns for
exercise and information. As the men adjusted to their new

situation, Pratt began to give them more responsibility for

their own care: by the fourth month, the Indians were
guarding themselves. They attended church in St. Augustine,
and Pratt even began a work program in which the men were
loaned to neighboring plantations and businesses. In the
fort, a tremendous tourist attraction was developed,
complete with locally produced Indian arts and crafts for
sale. Throughout their incarceration, besides working at
their jobs and appealing to tourists, the men were expected
to study, and by the end of their term at Fort Marion, many
could speak some English.

By 1877, Pratt was extremely dissatisfied with Fort
Marion as the locale for his efforts in educating "his"
Indians: the area could not offer adequate opportunity for
industrial training. He also learned that, if offered the
chance, twenty-two of his group would stay with him to go to
school rather than go home. Pratt then inundated the War
Department with requests to find a better place to found an
Indian industrial school, requests supported by glowing
reports of his work from sympathetic reformers like Harriet
Beecher Stowe.

By late 1877, the War Department had concluded that
Pratt’s group could be safely returned to their tribes.
Those who desired further education went with Pratt, first
to Hampton Institute in Virginia and later to Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, where the old army hospital there was turned

over to Pratt for his school. The other thirty-five
returned to Indian Territory.

Because Pratt’s project served as a prototype on
which later government Indian policy was based, the later
experiences of the Fort Marion Indians are relevant not only
to an understanding of Pratt and the Plains Indians but also
to the overall development of federal Indian policy. This
episode and its aftermath coincide with the development of
reformist interest in American governmental Indian policy
that would culminate in the Dawes Act of 1887. Pratt and
his methods were to become models for that reform movement.
In this period, such federal Indian policies as land
allotment in severalty, approval of farming as Indian
livelihood, and creation of boarding and vocational training
schools for Indians went beyond theory to actual
application.

Equally important, this episode offers a unique
opportunity to explore acculturation theory as it has been
developed in anthropology. Since the total number of
individuals is small, it will be possible to produce a
relatively well-controlled case study of social change in
two essential parts: a) an examination of the changes in
the lives of the specific individuals and b) an examination
of their influence on culture change in their communities.
Acculturation, the special form of culture change to be
analyzed here, has been defined as a process "whereby the
culture of a society is modified as the result of contact

with the culture of one or more other societies." (Gillin

and Raimy, 1940: 372) It is generally acknowledged, as
well, that acculturation may be both an individual and a
group process, and that it may be studied at either level as
long as the scholar’s perspective is explicit. (Teske and
Nelson, 1974: 352) In this study, an effort will be made to
examine the inter-relatedness of the process at each level.
It is predicted that this case will reveal that individual
acculturative change is much more dependent on the changes

occurring in the group than vice versa . Broom and Kitsuse

 

(1955) found this to be the case among Japanese in the
United States, and Leslie White (1948) has persuasively
argued that the role of the individual in society is
culturally determined.

Usually, acculturation is viewed as the adoption of
culture traits held by one cultural group by the people of
another cultural group. In the case of American Indian
peoples, the process has been viewed as a mostly one-way
affair, with Indians forced to accept basic European traits
while Whites were under no pressure to adopt any but minor
Indian traits. (Linton, 1940, for example.) It has also
been seen as a process of elimination of Indian culture
traits. Sometimes this process has been viewed as a
simplistic one-for-one exchange: paganism for Christianity,
tipis for houses, loin cloths for trousers. It has also
been viewed as abandonment of Indian culture with no

replacement from the European culture, a situation which

usually resulted in individual depression and personal
disorganization, with concomitant social disintegration.
(George and Louise Spindler, 1971, for the latter.)

While the culture trait idea has been central to
studies of acculturation, some anthropologists have gone
beyond it to view American Indian acculturation from a
cultural systems approach. This approach leads the scholar
to see the changes abstractly and above the level of the
individual, as taking place in institutions, values,
technology. The conclusions reached using this form of
analysis permit the identification of such phenomena as
“directed,” ”enforced,“ or 'fusional' acculturation.
(Linton, 1940; Dozier, 1955; Braroe, 1975.)

Another widely used approach to the study of
acculturation has been the examination of change at the
individual level. This form of analysis has focused
primarily on psychological questions such as what motivates
a person to change behavior in a certain direction, how one
reacts to, or percieves those changes over time, and what
characteristics of individuals (and, by extension, of whole
societies) predispose them to change in certain directions?
Generally scholars using this approach have argued that a
transitional stage--neither Indian nor White--is reached in
the process of acculturation, and that this stage is
characterized by great stress, personal disorganization,

pathogenic behavior , and cultural disintegration.

(Spindler and Spindler, 1952; Hallowell, 1955; Opler, 1959;
Freed, 1957.)

Neither approach has provided fully adequate answers
to the questions implicit in the concept of acculturation.
The cultural systems studies have developed typologies of
acculturation such as I'reactive adaptation” and "progressive
adjustment.” (SSRC, 1954) These assume that one can measure
change in the abstract cultures in a before-and-after
fashion, possible because these studies are almost always
historical. The 'pre-contact' culture is described, the
Whites arrive, and the resulting Indian adaptation is
examined. The description of the pre-contact culture is
derived mostly from documents , while the discussion of the
post-contact culture is based on participant observation.
Since the individual is largely ignored, one cannot see how
people came to act as they do, or through what process the
culture changed. On the other hand, the psychological
studies do focus on the individual, but usually lose sight
of the cultural and historical context in which the people
are acting. Here, the typologies have been of kinds of
persons--nativistic or traditional, assimilated or
acculturated, transitional or marginal--but we see little of
what has produced these types. We often do not see the
aggregate pattern which their behaviors collectively create.
These studies are generally based on participant

observation, with only a token inclusion of historical

material. (Braroe, 1975, summarizes this critique very
well.) They are also often severely weakened by the
application of inappropriate psychological theory.
Psychological theory is culture bound--behavior which is
seen as pathological in one culture may be normal in another
or the result of exceptional historical circumstances.
Thus, great caution must be used in any psychological
analysis of another culture. Finally, these approaches do
not analyze a phenomenon widely recognized in recent
studies: the persistence of ethnicity. It has been shown
that Indian people in many areas have preserved a
distinctive sense of their own ”Indianness”--an identity as
Navajo or Chippewa or Cheyenne--despite apparent
acculturative changes.

My study will attempt to bridge the two forms of
acculturation study. I will be working from historical
materials while, at the same time, looking at the
experiences of individuals. I will be applying no
psychological theories or tests, and the historical and
cultural context of behavior will be kept in the forefront.
The analysis will proceed from the level of the individual
to the cultural level--aggregate patterns will be adduced.
Therefore, a more complete picture of the acculturation
process for these Indian people should be derived.

The theoretical perspective of the study is the

adaptive strategies model: placed in a given situation with

10

certain cultural preconditioning, an individual must make
behavioral choices. He will choose to act in the ways he
believes will result in the greatest good for himself, but
the range of his available options will be determined by his
ethnicity. (Bennett, 1969; Braroe, 1975.)

Ethnicity is a concept which in recent years has
taken on a wide variety of meanings, from personal cultural
identity to the recognition by a group of its own self-
interest. (Hicks and Leis, 1977: 2; Blu, 1980: 218-224.)
For the purposes of this discussion, it will be defined as
suggested by Barth (1969) and Hicks (1977) as an ascriptive
category of role like sex or age, based on group identity.
The ethnic group itself is largely biologically self-
perpetuating, shares cultural values and behaves in largely
uniform ways, and is socially and culturally distinct from
other groups. Barth also argues that ethnicity is
perpetuated through a process of ”boundary maintainance'--
the protection of difference. What is permanent about
ethnicity is this difference from others, not necessarily
overt behaviors, which may change. In a contact situation--
i.e., in an acculturative situation--a set of rules is
created to govern inter-ethnic encounters. The relations
are structured such that certain areas of activity are open
to exchange (and to change) and some areas are closed,
"insulating” parts of the base culture from change.

Ethnicity, then, ”implies a series of constraints on the

11

kinds of roles an individual is allowed to play, and the
partners he may choose for different kinds of transactions.”
The parameters of these limits are determined by historical,
cultural, and ecological circumstances. (Barth, 1969: 12-
17.)

Thus, when placed in an acculturative situation, an
individual’s range of behavioral choices is broadened, but
he is nonetheless restrained by his ethnicity in designing
his adaptive strategy. The problem of choice of behavior is
quite complex; some behavioral sectors may be open to
experimentation while others may not. I hypothesize that an
individual will continue to choose to act in the general
vernacular of his own culture until and unless a) those
behaviors are simply no longer possible, b) those behaviors
result in serious problems, (survival is threatened) and/or
0) behaviors from the other culture offer great enough
rewards to entice the person to use them. His choice will
be strongly influenced by the degree of flexibility of
behavior which he is allowed in his ethnic context, but he
will retain his "ethnicity.”

Thus, acculturation is not a passive affair. People
actively, and to a large degree, consciously change their
behavior in a selective fashion. They retain behaviors
which continue to provide benefits (which may be material or
psychological) and add new ones which also provide benefits,

or at least minimize problems. The new behavior may not be

12

incorporated without change--in fact, it will frequently be
adapted to more closely fit patterns in?ehe older culture,
Io fit the values prescribed by their ethnic identity.
Culture changes as a result of many people altering their
behavior in similar ways. Ethnicity is the medium through
which the many actions of individuals are translated into
cultural phenomena.

Even in a contact situation like that which most
American Indians faced, in which a "dominant" (larger,
economically and militarily more powerful) culture intended
to produce change in certain directions, it cannot actually
determine either the exact changes which will take place nor
the rate at which they will occur. It only provides the
increased set of options from which individuals may choose:
it cannot determine how the individuals will use them.
Their own ethnicity does that. Thus, ethnicity, and the
cultural content of ethnicity, determine the dimensions of
cultural change. Direction is determined in a dominant-
subordinate situation by the simple presence of the dominant
culture. Rate of change, the speed of acculturation, is
determined by "ecology” as Barth defines it: the various
external factors with which the people must deal such as
environmental factors, the the historical variability of the
people’s ethnicity, the total historical and cultural
context. (Barth, 1969.)

The application of the adaptive strategies concept

13

to American Indian acculturation has been attempted only in
two studies of contemporary communities, one in the Canadian
Plains and the other divided between Boston and Nova Scotia,
(Braroe, 1975; Guillemin, 1974.) but there is no reason why
it should not be applied to a historical case where evidence
of individual behavior exists. The kinds of behavior which
can be studied in this case are not the intensely inter-
personal ones analyzed by Braroe, but much more apparently
mundane ones which fit easily into the older categories of
acculturation study: place of residence, house type,
clothing, language use, religious practice, form of
livelihood, marriage practice, and so on; the stuff of
classic ethnography. On the reservations of the late
nineteenth century, the choices Indians made in these very
basic areas were of extreme importance for their immediate
survival and the shape of their future cultures. The Fort
Marion prisoners may have had a special role on their
reservations--their adaptive strategies may have been
influenced by what they learned from the Fort Marion
experience: the adaptive strategies of those around them may
have been influenced in turn by their choices: the cultures
of their tribes may have changed as a result. We shall see.

The study will take the form of a collective
biography including narratives of the lives of the prisoners
and statistical analysis of data for the entire group. This

method has never before, to my knowledge, been applied to

14

American Indian subjects, although it has been part of the
historical repertoire for more than forty years. First
developed for studies of elites, it has been more widely
used in studies of such ”mass" phenomena as social mobility
and voting behavior. (Stone, 1972: 107-40.) This project
meets the criteria for a successful collective biography
noted by Stone:
the method works best when it is applied to
easily defined and fairly small groups over a
limited period..., when the data is drawn from a
very wide variety of sources which complement and
enrich each other, and when the study is directed to
solving a specific problem. (1972: 130)

The study will deal with seventy-four subjects over
about thirty years, in a clearly defined cultural and
historical setting, and for whom a variety of sources exist.
The acculturative problem has already been stated. The
value of the study is increased because the data for the
prisoners will be compared with data on the populations of
their reservations at large which will measure the same
signs of acculturation.

Certain terms will be used to categorize styles of
behavior and change which have been borrowed, to a certain
extent, from older types of acculturation study. Most

important will be ”conservative” and "progressive."

Conservative will be used to describe those people or groups

 

who rejected extensive cooperation with White authorities

and tried to live what they themselves perceived to be a

15

”traditional” way. Progressive will describe people or

 

groups who more willingly cooperated with Whites including
learning English, farming, educating their children,
becoming Christian. These were terms used by Whites in
their contemporary descriptions of Indians, and they are
widely used by scholars in the above sense, and are
therefore useful as a form of “shorthand“ to describe
behavior.

The material for the study was obtained through
archival research, primarily at the Oklahoma Historical
Society where most of the reservation documents relating to
the period of the study are housed. Additional invaluable
information was obtained from the records of the Concho
(Cheyenne-Arapaho) and Anadarko (Kiowa-Comanche) agencies.
Supporting data were found at the Bienecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Libary at Yale University, which holds the
Richard Henry Pratt Papers, and the National Archives. The
work of Karen Daniels Petersen on the Fort Marion
prisoner/artists has greatly supplemented my own research.
(Petersen, 1971; 1974; 1968.)

A number of problems confront any researcher using
primarily government records relating to American Indians.
First, since most agency records were maintained in
longhand, they are not always legible. Second, as personnel
changed at the agencies, so did the method of record

keeping: serious gaps exist in many areas. Third, records

16

are now scattered among a variety of holders, and access is
sometimes difficult. Fourth, the spelling of Indian names
is a notorious problem in Indian records, as is the habit of
record keepers of changing Indians’ names: tracing
individuals can be a Herculean task, especially when several
people may have the same name. Fortunately, the variety of
records kept on reservations in the nineteenth century by
field matrons, farmers, agents, and missionaries permits
reasonably reliable verification of information.
Nevertheless, the bias of those responsible for maintaining
the records, making and filing the reports, must be kept
constantly in mind. The reliability of an agent’s judgment
about the state of affairs on his reservation was often
suspect.

Despite the difficulties, it was possible to obtain
information about each of the prisoners. But the
information is by no means equivalent for all. For a few,
there exists a large set of records which describes their
lives in some detail: property ownership, career
activities, family stories, religious practices, even
anecdotes about a variety of experiences. For many others,
however, only fragmentary evidence could be found: dates of
death, records of allotment, perhaps names of family
members. Yet enough data was found about the Fort Marion
survivors to permit a basic statistical analysis of their

lives as a group. These figures will be compared with those

17

derived from the reports for the entire reservation.
Certain individuals will be discussed in some detail as
representatives of characteristic patterns of life and
acculturation, while the aggregate figures will permit a
determination of those patterns.

Thus, this study represents a unique Opportunity to
produce a controlled case study of historical acculturation
among American Indians through the application of theory and
methods not usually associated with ethnohistory. As such,
it should reveal important new information, not only about
the undeniably fascinating lives of the Fort Marion

prisoners, but also about the process of acculturation

itself.

18

Chapter 2

The Road to Fort Marion

.To understand the cultural changes which the Fort
Marion prisoners and their tribesmen would experience after
the Red River War, it is necessary to describe the
transformation of their cultures in the generations prior t
1875. This transformation led the men to their
imprisonment. They were members of the great buffalo
hunting tribes of the Southern Plains, primarily Comanche,
Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne. Their pre-reservation (pre-
1875) cultures were adaptations to the arrival of White
people in North America, and represented only one stage in
their historical and cultural development. In the 150 years
before the Red River War, these tribes migrated into the
Southern Plains, acquired the horse and the gun (both
donated by Whites), and adopted the ”typical” Plains Indian
cultural pattern-- the horse-buffalo-tipi complex. (Wallace
and Hoebel, 1952: 33.) By the 1840’s, these three groups
all lived the nomadic buffalo hunting life-style, and while
there were differences among their cultures, they were
nevertheless essentially similar peoples sharing the same

geographic-ecological region. After the 1840’s, they

19

acknowledged and formalized this situation in military and
economic alliances formed to try to prevent White conquest
of the Southern Plains.

The Southern Plains, the shared homeland of the
Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne, are an enormous area
extending south from the Platte River to the Rio Grande and
east from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to near the
98th meridian. The eastern part of the region is mostly
rolling land, with many stream valleys. To the west are the
High Plains, mostly level and at elevations sometimes as
high as five thousand feet. The climate ranges from semi-
arid in the west to sub-humid in the east. Trees can be
found in the stream beds, but most of the region is treeless
and covered (until plowed) with hardy grass. The weather
ranges from quite hot (90 degrees or hotter) in the summer
to very cold (below 0 degrees) in the winter, and westerly
or northerly winds are constant. In the nineteenth century,
the area abounded in all sorts of game, but buffalo were
especially numerous. (See esp.: Webb, 1931.)

The Comanches probably entered the region first.
They were a Shoshonean people, hunters and gathers who had a
very simple band level social organization, and who came
into the Southern Plains from the northwest. They acquired
the horse about 1600, and moved steadily southeast over the
next seventy-five to one hundred years. (Wallace and

Hoebel, 1952: 11, 44-66.) By the early 1800’s they lived

20

south of the Arkansas River in the heart of the Southern
Plains, and were a fully mounted buffalo hunting group.

The Comanche adaptation of the horse-buffalo-tipi
complex remained fairly simple. The people retained their
Shoshonean band structure and did not develop a centralized
tribal organization. Neither did they develop institutions
or rituals like warrior societies or the Sun Dance which
require tribe-wide structure and mobilization. Only in the
summer communal buffalo hunts did any larger than band
organization prevail, when hunt leaders directed the
gathered bands. Each band was led by its own war chief and
peace chief (headman) supported by a council of elders who
made important policy decisions. Several bands frequently
met together to decide issues of mutual concern, but it is
probable that no tribe-wide council was held until 1867.
(Wallace and Hoebel, 1952: 214.) Settlement of disputes
was generally handled privately, normally through payment of
damages and/or revenge. Comanche religion reflected this
social structure: it was highly individualistic, magic
focused, and based in the acquisition of supernatural power.

The horse was the most significant feature of the
Comanche plains life-style. By the early 1800’s, the
Comanche owned more horses than any other tribe, perhaps as
many as one hundred per person (Wallace and Hoebel, 1952:
39.), and were the channel by which horses moved north in

both trade and warfare. Comanche men were pre-eminently

21

warriors who fought for personal glory and revenge and
raided to steal more horses and other property. Their
mastery of mounted warfare, especially in the rapid,
surprise attack, blocked Spanish/Mexican expansion from the
south and American expansion from the east and west for more
than sixty years. (Richardson, 1933.)

By the early 1800’s, the Comanches were well
established in the center of the Southern Plains, but they
were constantly at war with people around them: Pawnee,
Osage, Sioux, Cheyenne. However, they had recently acquired
an ally, newcomers to the area, the Kiowa. The Kiowa, a
Uto-Aztecan speaking people, came into the South Plains from
the north,_after having moved east from the Rocky Mountains.
They lived in the Black Hills for about sixty years after
the late 1600’s, and there made an alliance with the Crow.
The close interaction between the two groups left profound
cultural marks on the Kiowa. They remained a hunting band
society but acquired the Sun Dance and other tribal
institutions, the horse- buffalo-tipi life-style, medicine
bundles, and soldier societies. In short, they quickly
became a typical plains group-- probably in less than two
generations. (Mayall, 1971; Mooney, 1912.)

About 1750, the Kiowas began moving south and about
1775 contacted the Comanche near the Arkansas River. The
two tribes fought vigorously for domination of the area, but

after fifteen years of warfare reached an alliance about

22

1790. They divided the Southern Plains, with the Comanche
taking the Staked Plains and the Texas frontier and the
Kiowa taking the area south of the Arkansas River.
Together, they expanded their total range, and pushed back
other tribes who had made tentative movements into the
region. From the Comanches, the Kiowa learned more
brilliant horsemanship, skill at warfare and raiding, and
the use of both in profitable trade.

Kiowa culture at the time of the Comanche alliance
and into the nineteenth century differed from Comanche
culture in several ways. First the Kiowas had a ritual
structure which served to integrate the tribe: a Sun Dance
which called for an annual gathering of the six bands for
both individual power quests and tribal renewal. They also
honored a tribal fetish, the Taimei, symbol of the whole
people. Greater political and social integration was also
expressed in tribal councils, intermarriage among the bands,
and the office of head chief,~ which held real authority.
Social differentiation was much more pronounced than among
the Comanche, with a clearly defined rank system based on
wealth, war exploits, and religious observance. Elaborate
age-graded warrior societies flourished, and these often
served as tribal police. Finally, religious specialists
emerged, in charge of the keeping of the Ten Grandmothers
(the medicine bundles) and the observance of important

rituals. In short, the Kiowa arrived in the Southern Plains

23

with a more elaborate political, social, and religious
structure than had the more individualistic and egalitarian
Comanche. (Mayall, 1971: 106-167; see also Lowie, 1916;
Mooney, 1912.)

Despite their differences, the Kiowa and Comanche
achieved a lasting, working friendship based on mutual use
and defense of the Southern Plains. They maintained their
working relationship through the early years of the
nineteenth century, hunting buffalo and capitalizing
together on their trade in horses.

The Kiowa were followed south by the Cheyenne and
Arapaho. These two Algonkian speaking peoples entered the
Southern Plains together in the early 1800’s, probably about
1815. (Berthrong, 1963; Trenholm, 1970.) The Cheyenne
probably began their move into the plains from the area of
the western Great Lakes or upper Mississippi River. They
began shifting west during the 1680’s, and were in eastern
North Dakota about 1700. Continuing pressure from other
tribes, most notably the Sioux , forced them up the
Minnesota River and to the Cheyenne River, where they stayed
about fifty years. Archaeological evidence suggests that in
this period their culture was like that of the semi-
sedentary people of the eastern plains: fortified villages,
some agriculture, periodic forays to hunt buffalo.
(Berthrong, 1963: 10; Grinnell, 1918; Will, 1914, 1924.)

They accquired the horse shortly after 1750. (Berthrong,
1963: 9.)

24

In the eighteenth century, the Cheyenne moved to the
Missouri River where they maintained a mixed economy of
farming and buffalo hunting. Some bands probably remained
in South Dakota until 1830, but by the early 1800’s,
Cheyennes were hunting far to the southwest. Sometime in
this period, Sioux pressure prompted them to abandon their
villages and become a classically nomadic plains group.
Their relationship to the Arapaho probably pre-dates this
period, as by about 1810 they were the trading
representatives for the Arapahos. (Berthrong, 1963: 3-26:
Jablow, 1950.)

Thus, the Cheyenne left a semi-sedentary
agricultural life-style to become buffalo hunters. On their
way from the upper midwest to the western plains, they were
in intense contact with many other tribes, especially when
they became the trade intermediaries between the western
plains Indians and the Missouri River traders. Their
culture at the time they allied with the Kiowa and Comanche
(about 1840) reflected this contact as well as their
Algonkian heritage.

Like the Kiowas, the Cheyennes probably became
Plains Indians in only two generations. By the time their
bands entered the Southern Plains, they were full
participants in the horse-buffalo-tipi complex described
earlier for the Comanche, but also like the Kiowa, the

Cheyenne came with some marked cultural differences from the

25

Comanche, primarily in religion and government. Their
religion was animistic and magic centered, and each man
sought his own ”power” in a vision quest, but the Cheyenne
also venerated gods. Primary among them was Heanmawikio,
the Wise One Above, probably a version of the old Algonkian
Manitou. Ahktunowikio, who lived in the earth, was somewhat
less important, as were a variety of spirits, including
directions. The Cheyenne also had a number of important
tribal rituals, including the Ceremony of the Buffalo, the
Sun Dance, Arrow Renewal, and Massaum. These were directed
by religious specialists. (Hoebe1,1960: 6-17; Powell,
1980.)

In addition, the Cheyenne honored tribal fetishes,
the Sacred Arrows and the Buffalo Hat. The arrows were the
sacred symbols of the Cheyennes that guaranteed good hunting
and success in warfare. They were protected by their
apppointed keeper. The Cheyenne lost their medicine arrows
in 1830 to the Pawnees, and although they made substitutes,
they attributed their hardships in the nineteenth century to
the absence of the real arrows. Similarly , the Buffalo Hat
was important to tribal welfare. From 1869-73, its
possession went through a series of changes, and in the
process, one horn was removed. The Hat was taken by the
Northern Cheyenne while the horn stayed in the south. The
Northern Cheyenne believed that their military defeats in

the 1870’s were a direct result of the desecration.
(Berthrong, 1963: 55-61.)

26

Not only did the Cheyenne have full tribal religious
institutions and Observances, but their governmental
structure was strongly centralized. The tribe was governed
by a council of forty-four chiefs: four head chiefs, two
doorkeepers of the council tipi, and the thirty-eight
others. All were appointed by their bands for ten years.
The council had dual religious and civil functions, working
with the religious leaders to call and hold the major
ceremonies and with the military societies to move camp,
stage buffalo hunts, and wage wars. The warrior societies
were extremely important for the Cheyenne. There were six,
and they functioned not only as police and ”social
directors," but also as the vessel through which Cheyenne
men achieved status. There were both age-graded and general
membership societies, but the most powerful were the Dog

Soldiers who essentially controlled the tribe. They
included half the warriors, and eventually they separated
themselves as a separate band within the tribe. By the
reservation period, there were probably ten Cheyenne bands.
(Berthrong, 1963: 71-75; Hoebel, 1960: 20-57.)

The Arapaho were probably moving just ahead of the
Cheyenne throughout their migrations, although some scholars
believe they were present in the north-central plains long
before the Cheyenne moved west and were forced south about
the time the Cheyenne arrived. (Trenholm, 1971: 3-51, for

a summary of this argument.) Whichever was true, they were

27

southwest of the Black Hills by 1796 and hunting with the
Cheyenne near the Platte Rivers by 1810. The alliance
between the two tribes no doubt dates from about 1790 and
was based on a mutual "feeling” that the two groups were
related and in common military-economic necessity.
(Trenholm, 1971; Berthrong, 1963.)

The Arapaho culture was in many ways similar to that
of the Cheyenne. They too, honored special tribal fetishes:
the Flat Pipe and their Buffalo Hat, which were both
protected by special keepers. The Pipe was the Arapahos’
particular symbol, and was central to all ceremonials. It
was exposed only when its bundle was renewed in a ceremony
of significance like that of the Arrow Renewal for the
Cheyenne. The Sun Dance was the Arapahos’ most important
tribal ritual.

There were four Arapaho bands (five in later years
when the Southern Arapaho were perceived as a separate unit.
Kroeber, 1907; Mooney, 1912), each led by a headman. There
were also four head chiefs who together were the central
authority of the tribe. They were always selected from the
Dog Society, which occupied as important a position among
the Arapaho as its counterpart did among the Cheyenne. The
four chiefs could act as a unit, or if a matter seemed of
some seriousness, call the members of the eight societies
into council. Once a decision was made in either case, the

society members enforced it. Unlike those of the Cheyenne,
the societies here were only age-graded.

28

By 1812, the Arapaho moved south again to the
Arkansas, and the first Cheyenne movements to the area were
probably in response to Arapaho trading needs, and in order
to trade with the Kiowas for horses. (Berthrong, 1963: 19-
24.) All four tribes (Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and
Arapaho) were present at a large trading meeting in 1821
below the Arkansas River (Berthrong, 1963: 21.), and after
1821, the Cheyenne were in the south in some numbers,
although they remained scattered across the entire central
plains. About 1826, Cheyenne and Arapaho began to raid the
Kiowa and Comanche for horses and to participate in the
harassment of the Santa Fe trade. By 1833, and the
establishment of Bent’s Fort, more Cheyenne bands were on
the headwaters of the Arkansas. The trade there made it
possible for them to abandon the Missouri River traders and
to concentrate their range between the Platte and Arkansas.

Throughout the 1830’s, warfare among the tribes of
the Plains was particularly furious. The horse raids of the
Cheyenne and Arapaho against the Kiowa and Comanche
developed into full-scale hostilities. But by 1839, all
four tribes desired and needed peace. Constant warfare was
draining the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who had many other
enemies, especially the Teton Sioux and Pawnee. Smallpox
had just decimated the Kiowa and Comanche, and the Texans
were pressing into their territory. An unprecedented peace

council was held in 1840, mediated by the Arapaho and Kiowa-

29

Apache, near Bent’s Fort, and the four tribes (or, more
precisely, the two two-tribe alliances) ended their
hostilities. They would remain at peace and cooperate in
trade and warfare for more than thirty years--unti1 the
establishment of the reservations. (Berthrong, 1963: 83-
84; Mayall, 1971: 90-93.)

The years of alliance between 1840 and 1875 were
essentially a time of resistance to White encroachment for
the Indians of the Southern Plains. While inter-tribal
warfare continued to be important, more and more attention
had to be paid to the increasing presence of Whites in the
area-- first as traders: then as hunters, especially buffalo
hunters; and finally as ranchers and miners. The traders
initially brought an opportunity for increased wealth, but
the hunters began to decimate the great buffalo herds, and
the ranchers and miners wanted to control the lands over
which the Indians wandered. The generation of Southern
Plains Indians who came to maturity in this era never knew a
time when they were not threatened by decreasing food
supplies, increasing limits on their range, and violence
from American settlers and military.

After 1840, the separation of the Cheyenne and
Arapaho tribes into northern and southern branches became
more stable as the southern bands located permanently in the
area around Bent’s Fort. Their alliance continued strong,

but the Cheyenne also began to pursue their alliance with

30

 

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31

the Kiowa and Comanche more aggressively. Those two tribes
were continually involved in hostilities with the Texans
because in 1838 President Lamar had cancelled the peace
policy of President Houston in favor of active elimination
of ”wild” Indians from Texas and the expansion of settlement
northward into Kiowa and Comanche territory. Both sides
raided and retaliated in an ever escalating cycle. The
Kiowa and Comanche were pushed steadily northwestward, and
they began to look to the Southern Cheyenne for help against
the Texans. The Arapaho tended to avoid the warfare, and
therefore maintained a reputation as the most peaceful of
the plains people. (Leckie, 1963: 12-15.)

In the 1840’s, the great trails across the plains
were open and in full use, especially late in the decade, by
traders to Santa Fe and by forty-niners on the way to
California. These trails out directly across the lands and
hunting areas of all four tribes and harassment of wagon
trains and travellers became common. In 1845, the United
States annexed Texas and assumed responsibility for handling
its Indian problem, but the refusal of Texas to recognize
Indian land claims and the Indians’ inability to understand
the change in jurisdiction (”Texans are our enemies;
Americans are not.') made any peaceful or quick solutions
impossible. (Leckie, 1963: 14.) In 1847, a feeble effort
was made to establish reserves for Texas Indians, but it was

abandoned in the face of White hostility.

32

As raiding steadily increased, and Texans and
traders to the north demanded protection, the government
built a double line of forts intended to protect Texas
settlements and defend the travel routes. Built between
1848 and 1853, these were of only limited value as war
parties breached the lines almost at will. In 1853, the
Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa-Apache signed a treaty with the
United States at Fort Atkinson, Kansas, whose terms promised
no interference with construction of roads or military
posts, a halt to raids in Mexico and the United States, and
reparations for damages in either country. In return, the
Indians were to receive $180,000 over ten years, and federal
protection. (Leckie, 1963: 16.)

Beginning in 1854, another attempt was made to
create reserves for Texas Indians on about 56,000 acres of
land given by the Texas legislature. By 1858, some 1100
peaceful Indians were settled, but less than 400 Comanches
had moved to the reserve. Continuing raids by Kiowas and
Comanches led to attacks on all the Indians by Whites, and
in 1859, the U. S. Indian agent moved them into Indian
Territory to try to protect them. (Leckie, 1963: 17.)

The Cheyenne and Arapaho were also affected during
this period by efforts to protect the cross-plains routes.
In 1851, they were joined by some Sioux in signing the
Treaty of Fort Laramie. This treaty promised them lands in

the foothills of the Rockies between the North Platte River

33

and the Arkansas, $2,500,000 over fifty years, and
protection from White intrusion. In return, the Indians
were to permit the establishment of roads and military posts
in their region. (Kappler, ed., II: 594-96.) The treaty
was never ratified, and the Indians never received any of
the promised benefits.

The discovery of gold in Colorado in 1858 brought
Whites to the area in tremendous numbers, and no attempt was
made to honor Indian land or hunting rights. Game was
depleted and the Cheyenne and Arapaho were, like the Kiowa
and Comanche, being forced out of their lands and to the
south and east. In 1861, at Fort Wise (Bent’s Fort), the
Cheyenne and Arapaho signed a new treaty accepting a small
portion of their former lands and payment of $450,000 over
fifteen years-- minus expenses of improving the land.
(Kappler , ed., II: 807-11.)

The Civil War, and its corresponding depletion of
federal troops in the Southern Plains, led to an extreme
level of raiding in the old Kiowa-Comanche battle areas and
the retreat of White settlers from the region. To the
northwest, in Cheyenne and Arapaho country, things were
relatively quiet until 1864 and Major Jacob Downings’
massacre of a Cheyenne village at Cedar Bluffs as revenge
for an alleged cattle theft. The Cheyenne responded with
large scale warfare in alliance with the Arapaho , Kiowa,

and Comanche which cut all communication between Colorado

34

and the East. Peace attempts were begun in late summer, but
the military leadership did not want peace until, in their
judgment, the Indians had been adequately punished.
(Leckie, 1963: 22.) In November, in response to appeals by
civilian peace-minded officials, Black Kettle (Cheyenne) and
others came to Fort Lyon to surrender, making camp on Sand
Creek nearby. The military, determined to mount a winter
campaign against the Cheyenne, sent out Col. John Chivington
with one thousand men, who reached Fort Lyon November 28.
The result was the infamous Sand Creek Massacre, in which
five hundred of the seven hundred Indians died. (Leckie,
1963: 23.)

This incident undoubtedly made peace in the Southern
Plains impossible. In fact, it elicited the most widespread
warfare ever seen on the plains. Black Kettle called for
and received the support of the Northern Cheyenne and
Arapaho, the Southern Arapaho, and the Kiowa and Comanche,
and. their attacks extended from the Red River of Texas to
the Canadian border. For the winter and summer of 1865, the
Indians successfully held off the troops sent to quiet them.

Despite their inability to stop the Indian warfare
(or perhaps because of it), the military sought to expand
its campaigns but public outrage about the Chivington
massacre encouraged civilian authorities to respond
favorably to Indian requests for peace councils. In late

summer of 1865, the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche

35

gathered at Bluff Creek to talk with a United States peace
commission. The Cheyenne and Arapaho agreed, after the
apologies of General John B. Sanborn for Sand Creek, to
leave their lands in Colorado for a reserve partly in Kansas
and partly in Indian Territory. However, their transfer had
to wait until title to the new lands was cleared, and
meanwhile, they could hunt their old lands as long as they
stayed at least ten miles from White settlements and
transport routes. They also agreed to permanent peace,
arbitration of disputes, and to surrender any raiders. In
return, they would receive annuities at the rate of $20 per
capita until settled on the reservation and $40 per capita
afterward for a total of forty years. The Kiowa and
Comanche agreed to similar terms with a reservation in
Indian Territory and the Texas panhandle. (Kappler, ed.,
II: 887-89.)

Although these treaties briefly encouraged peace,
they were sabotaged by the refusal of Texas and Kansas to
allow their lands to be used for reservations. Thus the
location of lands was delayed for more than two years while
Congress and the President selected lands wholly in Indian
Territory. In the meantime, the pressure of White
settlement continued to build. Although no serious
incidents aggravated tensions in Cheyenne and Arapaho
country, developments during 1866-67 led Whites to expect

further trouble. The Cheyenne Dog Soldiers were known to be

36

unhappy, and despite their promises of peace, they were
suspected of calling for war. Movements of the Sioux and
Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho toward the south had military
leaders predicting another alliance for war. (They were
moving in search of buffalo.) (Berthrong, 1963: 245.)

Tensions were especially high in Kiowa-Comanche
country after 1865. Dohasan, chief of the Kiowas, died in
1866 and was replaced by Lone WOlf, a known raider, who had
little commitment to peace and equally little control over
other Kiowa chiefs. Raiding against Texas was at a peak,
due primarily to Santanta and his warriors. The Comanche
were accused of raiding not only Texas but the Kansas
frontier as well. General William T. Sherman visited the
area and concluded that the reports of attacks were
completely overblown, but General Winfield Scott Hancock
decided to avert what he viewed as an impending outbreak by
leading a military force into Indian country to impress the
Indians, or to fight and defeat them. (Sherman was
commander of the Military Division of the Missouri. Hancock
was commander of the Department of the Missouri, a subunit
of the Division.)

Hancock went first to meet with the Cheyenne in
April, 1867, but remembering Sand Creek, the warriors staged
delaying tactics until the women and children could evacuate
their big village on Pawnee Fork. Then, they, too, slipped

away. Col. George A. Custer was sent after them, but could

37

not track them or supply his train. Hancock destroyed the
abandoned village. He went on to meet the Kiowa chiefs and
found that some, along with a few Arapaho, had also fled.
Nevertheless, several Arapaho chiefs met with him at Fort
Dodge to reassert their peacefulness. Hancock went on to
Fort Larned to see Satanta, who also said he wanted peace
but warned that burning the Cheyenne village had been a
serious mistake. Hancock finally returned to Fort
Leavenworth after checking on Custer at Fort Hays. (Leckie,
1963: 39-49; Berthrong, 1963: 266-282.)

Satanta had, of course, been right. The burning of
the Cheyenne village was followed by the renewal of
widespread attacks by Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho,
especially along the Smoky Hill River. By summer, they
began to raid military posts and railroad construction
crews, and even derailed a train. As warfare spread, the
military began to respond, and Custer moved over the region
of the Platte, constantly hampered by supply problems.
Kansas raised a force of volunteers to assist the federal
troops in defending its settlements.

As raiding continued unabated, Congress acted on the
investigative report of its Joint Special Commission on the
Condition of the Indian Tribes. According to the report,
Indian numbers were being reduced by wars usually caused by
greedy Whites, a process aggravated by disease and alcohol,

as well as by extermination of the game. Greed, ineptitude,

38

and corruption were rampant in the Indian Bureau. The
military was stupidly causing wasteful wars. The report
called for civilian control of the Indian agencies. (U.S.
Congress, Senate Report No. 156, 39 Cong., 2 Sess.: 3-8.)

In response to the report and to the situation in
the Southern Plains, in July, 1867, Congress created an
Indian Peace Commission to meet with the chiefs of the
hostile tribes. The aims were to remove the causes of war,
to protect the settlements and the trans-continental
railroads, and to put into effect a plan to civilize the
Indians. If the Commission failed in its efforts, the
President was empowered to declare war on the Indians.
While it was at work, however, the military was authorized
to undertake only defensive actions. (15 U.S. STAT 17.)

In October, the Commission went to Medicine Lodge
Creek, where five thousand Indians were gathering for the
huge peace council . It began October 19, without the
Cheyennes who would not assemble in the presence of troops.
Chiefs of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Arapaho addressed the
Commission, and after only two days, an agreement was
reached with the Kiowa and Comanche. Black Kettle
ultimately persuaded the Cheyenne to join the meeting, and
October 28, they and the Arapaho signed their treaty. The
tribes were to abandon all claims to former lands in
exchange for 7,300,000 acres in Indian Territory, and

promises of food, clothing, and tools. Agencies were to be

39

created on each reservation with schools, doctors,
carpenters, blacksmiths, and farmers. Buffalo hunting was
allowed anywhere south of the Arkansas, but the Indians were
to avoid all White settlements and the roads and to remain
peaceful. They would no longer oppose the trans-continental
railroads. (Kappler, ed., II: 980-81, 984-89.)

As after the treaties of 1865, the Indians waited
without results for the benefits of the treaties of Medicine
Lodge. Congress delayed ratification, and no provisions
were made either to move the Indians to their reservations
or to provide for them. The Cheyenne and Arapaho, camped
near Fort Dodge, were destitute, but during the winter of
1867-68, they remained at peace with Whites although they
continued raids on the Kaws and Osages. The Kiowa and
Comanche, on the other hand, were raiding not only the
Civilized Tribes, but White settlements along the Texas
frontier. Finally in July, 1868, Congress authorized
implementation of the treaties, but through the military,
not the Indian bureau. (Berthrong, 1963: 299-301: Leckie,
1963: 67.)

A major Cheyenne attack on the Kaws, preceded and
followed by parades of Cheyenne warriors through Council
Grove in June of 1868, resulted in an order that the
Cheyenne were not to be given their Medicine Lodge
ammunition allowances. They responded by refusing all

annuities. At the same time, the Kiowa and Comanche were

40

not receiving their goods because of transport delays.
Minor skirmishes were increasingly reported by isolated
ranchers and surveyors in Kansas, Texas, and Colorado, and
though full distributions of annuities were made in late
summer, various bands of Cheyennes began attacking
settlements in Kansas and Colorado. As before, warfare
spread, and the 2500 cavalry in the Department of the
Missouri could not begin to meet the challenge. The area of
warfare broadened when General Alfred Sully, at Fort Larned,
decided to attack the Kiowa and Comanche, even though they
had not participated in the outbreak. His bumbling
campaign, in which his troops were routed, succeeded only in
involving the Kiowa and Comanche and in convincing them that
the military could be beaten. (Leckie, 1963: 68-83;
Berthrong, 1963: 302-317.)

Generals Sherman and Philip H. Sheridan responded at
first with only defensive tactics, but they planned a winter
campaign designed to attack the Indians when they were most
vulnerable--when food was scarce and their ponies were weak.
The tribes were to be driven to their new reservations or
killed. Sherman wanted to make war on all the Indians of
the Southern Plains, but had to agree to an Interior
Department demand that the innocent be protected. Believing
that the Kiowa and Comanche were not guilty of starting the
outbreak, he allowed them to be removed to the area of Fort

Cobb, the haven for those not at war. Both the Cheyenne and

41

Arapaho also moved to the Fort Cobb area hoping for peace
talks, but Sherman would not negotiate. The campaign,
directed by Sheridan and Custer, resulted in the famous
Battle of the Washita, where Custer’s men decimated the main
Cheyenne village and killed hundreds including Black Kettle,
the primary voice for peace. (Berthrong, 1963: 317-33;
Leckie, 1963: 88-114.)

All four tribes had been camped on the Washita, and
after the fight fled to the south. The Comanche, in
response to Sherman’s sweep across the area, returned to
Fort Cobb, and most Kiowas were brought in after a few days
to redeem the freedom of their chiefs Satanta and Lone Wolf,
who were captured shortly after Washita. In January, they
were moved to the new Fort Sill, and finally, after
assurances of peace, Satanta and Lone WOlf were released in
February.

The troops continued to hunt for the Cheyenne and
Arapaho through the winter. Finally a major expedition
westward to the Sweetwater River located the main bands who
surrendered to Custer. As with the Kiowa, chiefs were held
hostage to assure that the people would come in, which they
did during April. Another successful campaign against Tall
Bull, a major chief who had refused to surrender, brought in
many of the remaining bands, but some Kiowa and Comanche
continued to raid in Texas, and the Dog Soldiers stayed out

with many Cheyenne warriors and their families. Various
bands continued to straggle in over the summer.

42

The campaign of 1868 did successfully bring most of
the Indians into the Medicine Lodge reservations. The
agencies were made operational, and Quaker agents Laurie
Tatum and William F. Darlington began to try to supply and
civilize their charges. Rations were usually too scanty or
unsuitable, and the Indians remained unsettled and
disturbed. Raiding against Texas again increased, and other
raids were common. Although the situation could not be
described as real warfare, nerves were raw.

In June of 1870, the Kiowas held held their Sun
Dance, attended as usual by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and
Comanche. Apparently it was the occasion for a decision by
many of the bands to resume warfare. Within days, Cheyenne
raids were reported in Kansas and Colorado, and through the
summer, Satanta’s band of Kiowa were extremely active. The
Kiowa and Comanche did come in to the agency to receive
rations, but raiding, especially under White Horse and
Satank, continued. Finally in 1871, Tatum called in the
military. After a demonstration of force, several chiefs
were called to the headquarters for talks, and in two
separate incidents, Satank, Big Tree, and then Satanta were
arrested. They were sent to Texas, tried for murder, and
sentenced to life in prison--a totally new departure in
handling Indian depredations. (Leckie, 1963: 133-57.)

Despite reports of occasional raids, the Cheyenne

remained relatively quiet from 1871 to 1874. The agent

43

reported that the chiefs were using the soldier societies to
restrain the more war-like (Berthrong, 1963: 351-52.), and
the Indians appeared to be content with the new reservation.
In fact, it seems more likely that the Cheyenne were quiet
because they were able to procure enough food--enough
buffalo still remained in their area to supply them.
Remembering their repeated punishments by the army, and
living reasonably well, they refused to accept Kiowa war
arrows, the symbolic call to warfare, several times. But
this situation was extremely fragile. The Cheyenne, and
their peaceful allies the Arapaho, were coming under
increasing pressure from White intruders. They were greatly
disturbed by the presence of surveyors in their country,
knowing that behind them came the railroad and settlers.
They were constantly harrassed by horse thieves, whose
depredations they could not, by treaty, avenge. Liquor
dealers were everywhere, and the trade for whisky was
impoverishing whole bands as traders took hides and ponies
in payment. Finally, the arrival of hide hunters in Indian
Territory was the proverbial last straw. In the winter of
1873-74, the Cheyenne and Arapaho, for the first time ,
could not feed themselves. They were completely dependent
upon the agency rations for they could find no buffalo.
(Berthrong, 1963: 373-83.)

During these years, the Comanche and Kiowa had

continued to raid into Texas on a sporadic basis, mostly in

44

revenge attacks for horse thefts and murders by Whites. The
Kiowa, outraged by the imprisonment of Satank, Satanta, and
Big Tree, called repeatedly for war, and they fought alone
through 1872 and 1873. After a relatively peaceful winter
in 1873, the three were released, but raiding once again
increased through 1873-74, and the Kiowa were joined by
their allies in 1874 when they were jolted by the impending
extermination of the buffalo. (Wallace and Hoebel, 1952:
318; Leckie, 1963: 185-235.)

Reports of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche attacks
became more and more common in the spring of 1874, but the
summer brought an event remarkable in both cultural and
historical terms. The Comanches held a Sun Dance. Led by
their new prophet Isatigh, they assembled for their first
and only Sun Dance and invited the Kiowa and Cheyenne, who
attended in large numbers. (Wallace and Hoebel, 1952: 319-
24; Berthrong, 1963: 384-85.) This Sun Dance, copied in
many particulars from the Kiowa, was held to restore the
buffalo to the Southern Plains and to call the people to
destroy the White invaders who were ruining the lives and
cultures of the assembled tribes. Isatigh led the people in
prayer and preparation, and then he led them in battle,
preaching that his magic would protect them from the guns of
the Whites. Their first target was the old trading post
called Adobe Walls, and there Isatigh’s magic failed.

Twenty-eight buffalo hunters defeated the war party of

45

hundreds of Indians. (Berthrong, 1963: 385-86.) What has
come to be known as the Red River War was the winter of
”mopping up" skirmishes that followed which brought the
defeated, demoralized, and hungry Indians back into their
reservations for the last time. Its conclusion would bring
seventy-four Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa people
to prison at Fort Marion, Florida.

These tribes, all migrants into the Southern Plains,
shared a remarkably common culture based in nomadic buffalo
hunting . As their region and resources were threatened by
White encroachment in the early to mid-1800’s, they created
trading and military alliances for their common defense. By
1868, and the treaties of Medicine Lodge, the United States
government and its agents (both military and civilian)
recognized this commonality of culture, history, and
interest and established contiguous reservations to be
shared by the tribes of the two sub-alliances. Finally, in
their last desperate effort to expel the Whites, the
Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche once again fought together.
It makes sense that they were punished together, and it also
makes sense to study acculturation among the Fort Marion
prisoners, and their reservation peers, after the Red River
War as common phenomena. As we shall see, identical
policies and practices would be applied to them whether in
prison or on the reservations. We will first examine the

Fort Marion experience.

46

Chapter 3

Fort Marion

General Sheridan doggedly pursued scattered bands of
Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa through western Indian
Territory, northwest Texas, and Kansas in the Red River War
of 1874-75. Wherever he found camps, he ordered the tipis
and supplies destroyed and the animals killed. After a
winter of this constant war of attrition, the Indians began
to come in to their reservations, usually in destitute and
starving condition. As the campaign progressed, and showed
clear signs of success, military and civilian leaders began
to consider proposals for dealing with the defeated Indians.

When the campaign began, General Sheridan had
suggested trying the Indian leaders before a specially
constituted military commission. Military leaders generally
accepted that notion, and Major C.D. Emory, Judge Advocate
of the Department of Texas, went to Fort Sill to collect
evidence and identify those who should be tried. The United
States Attorney General ruled, however, that 'a state of war
could not exist between a nation and its wards," and
therefore a military commission was unconstitutional. Since

the authorities recognized that fair trials for Indians were

47

impossible in the civil courts of the region, they abandoned
trials in favor of an imprisonment of the most "notorious
ringleaders" in a fort far from Indian Territory. (File of
correspondence regarding the Red River War, Records of the
War Department, July 1874 through May, 1875, NA, especially
Edward Smith, CIA, to Gen. Sherman, February 16, 1875;
Pratt, 1964: 104-5.)

By the spring of 1875, Emory and the Indian agents
had collected evidence against a number of the Indian
warriors, some of whom were in government custody.
Assisting Emory in this work at Fort Sill was Lt. Richard
Henry Pratt, who had been serving since 1868 in Indian
Territory. He supervised Indian Scouts, and in the course
of his work, he came to know many of the Kiowa and Comanche
band leaders quite well.

Pratt came to the Southern Plains a fervent believer
in racial equality. He pointed to his recent experiences in
the Civil War, fighting to end slavery, as the origins of
his beliefs. Like contemporary Radical Republicans, he
argued that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution
guaranteed equal rights to all, and for Pratt, ”all”
included Indians. (Pratt, 1964: 6-8.) Radical Republicans
fought racial segregation because their concept of ”integral
nationalism" allowed for no subordinate race. (Montogomery,
1967: 82.) The Fourteenth Amendment was crucial in

solidifying the Union, re-enforcing the Constitution, and

48

guaranteeing civil rights not only to Blacks but to all
citizens. Thus, the policies of the Radicals were anti-
racist, legalistic, and assimilationist. Law could correct
past injustice and assure equal opportunity, but a single
standard of color blind law also implied, to them,
conformity to White American values. There is no evidence
that Pratt had active contact with the Radical Republicans
of his native Illinois, but he was clearly influenced by
them when he reflected on his experiences as a soldier and
educator:

I cannot see other wise than that all the gross
injustices to both races [Blacks and Indians,
author’s note] which have followed and become
indurated policies are primarily the result of
national neglect to give the opportunities and
enforce the safeguards of our Declaration and
Constitution. (Pratt, 1964: 8.)

Throughout his career, Pratt repeatedly asserted
that the American task had to be to insure that members of
racial minorities received the same open chances and
opportunities that Pratt believed both native-born Whites
and the new European industrial immigrants had. (Pratt,
1964: 271.) He went even further to call for the
assimilation of minority people into mainstream American
culture, again as he believed the European immigrants were
being assimilated, by educating them in American life,

language, and culture and by encouraging them to abandon

their old, inferior life-styles.

49

Pratt’s views reflected not only those of the
Radical Republicans, but those of former abolitionists and
reformers who were turning their attention to race problems,
and often, ”The Indian Question,“ in the late 1860’s and
early 1870’s. Lydia Maria Child, poet and abolitionist, for

example, wrote ”An Appeal for the Indians," for The National

 

Anti-Slavery Standard, April 11, 1868, in which she called

 

for a gradual incorporation of Indians into American
culture. Wendell Phillips also spoke widely and wrote
pamphlets on total racial equality for Indians. Others who
participated in Indian reform campaigns included Peter
Cooper, of the working man’s Cooper Institute, Henry Ward
Beecher, and Vincent Colyer, prominent artist and
humanitarian. All were instrumental in founding the United
States Indian Commission. The Commission, a private group
established to investigate Indian grievances and conditions,
became the model for the official Board of Indian
Commissioners, founded in 1869. Abolitionists never assumed
dominant positions in the post Civil War Indian reform
movement, but their racial attitudes and passionate
opposition to injustice certainly influenced it, and Pratt.
(Prucha, 1976: 25-29.)

If Pratt’s ideas in the 1860’s and 1870’s strongly
reflected the Radical Republican’s notions of racial
equality and Indian reform, his actions and ideas in the

1880’s would place him in the forefront of the Indian reform

50

movement. This new movement, begun in the mid-1870’s as
Pratt experimented with the prisoners at Fort Marion, like
Radical Republicanism, was pre-eminently nationalistic and
Christian. It sought to ”Americanize" the Indians, a phrase
which incorporated within it Christian (especially
Protestant) conversion, education, hard work and self-
support, and the utter destruction of traditional Indian
culture. That culture prevented the Indians from achieving
their potential. The movement was led primarily by
evangelical Protestants and was typified by such
organizations as the Indian Rights Association and the
Women’s National Indian Association (which began as the
Central Indian Committee of the WOmen’s Home Mission Society
of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.) Such groups
dominated the movement for Indian assimilation until well
after 1900. (Prucha, 1976: 132-68.) Merrill Gates, member
of the Board of Indian Commisioners from 1884 to 1922 and
key figure in the movement’s leadership, summarized the

attitudes of those pressing the movement’s cause:

We have learned that education and example, and,
pre-eminently, the force of Christian life and
Christian faith in the heart, can do in one
generation most of that which evolution takes
centuries to do... The sad uniformity of savage
tribal life must be broken up! Individuality must
be cultivated...At last as a nation, we are coming
to recognize the great truth that if we would do
justice to the Indians, we must get at them, one by
one, with American ideals, American schools,
American laws, the priveleges and the pressures of

51

American rights and duties. (Lake Mohonk Conference
Proceedings, 1900, p. 14, quoted in Prucha, 1976:
153.)

 

 

After he founded Carlisle in 1879, Pratt remained
fervently committed to these ideas, carrying them to their
logical extremes and eventually calling for the end of
reservations and the scattering of Indians throughout the
United States. Despite his brilliant example in Indian
education, his inflexibility in calling for off-reservation
boarding schools and the destruction of reservations
ultimately put him outside the Indian reform movement. His
constant harrassment of Bureau of Indian Affairs officials
finally resulted in his removal as superintendent of
Carlisle in 1904. (Pratt, 1964: xiv-xvii.)

It was, therefore, no accident that Pratt served in
the Southern Plains with the Tenth Cavalry, the Black troops
of the Unites States Army. He believed that with the help
of enlightened officers such as himself, these men could
prove themselves the equals of Whites. In his memoirs, he
recounted with obvious delight the story of a "colored”
soldier whom he selected to serve as his orderly. The man
had "beaten out" White soldiers for the coveted position
because of his cleaner fingernails and superior personal
habits. (Pratt, 1964: 28-29.) Pratt’s success in dealing
with the Blacks encouraged his superiors at Fort Arbuckle to
have him try organizing and supervising Indian scouts. He

took on the job enthusiastically: what better way to get to

52

know "the Indian”, to discover his true capacities, to set a
good example. He was remarkably successful. His scouts
trusted him, as did many of the local Indians, because, he
himself said, of his forthright, completely honest approach
and because of his willingness to treat the Indians in ways
they would understand.

Pratt’s acquaintance with the Indians around Fort
Sill, especially the Kiowa and Comanche, made him the
obvious person to collect evidence against those Indians he
and the agent believed incorrigibly hostile and demonstrably
violent. His role in this process, and in the selection of
those Indian prisoners sent to Florida, is indicative of his
attitudes: he took great pains to determine exact crimes
(murders, thefts) which each person was alleged to have
committed, and he lobbied for the inclusion of only those
known to be guilty (and of all those known to be guilty.)
(Testimony was taken from White victims, Indians willing to
talk in return for immunity, and military and agency
personnel.) As a result, the Comanches and Kiowas chosen
for prison were mostly well-known participants in raids and
attacks and were accused of specific offenses such as the
murder of agency employees, rape, and horse theft. To
Pratt’s dismay, notorious leaders and warriors such as
Kicking Bird and Big Bow were not imprisoned because they
provided evidence against their fellows. (Pratt, 1964:
104-8.)

53

The Indians were also upset that some of their
fellows would betray others. The Kiowas were especially
angry that Kicking Bird had given testimony against the
prisoners but was not himself to be punished. The Kiowa
prisoners concluded that they had to punish him themselves,
and Mah-mante, another important leader with special
supernatural powers, agreed to witch him to death before
leaving for prison. Kicking Bird was informed of the
verdict, and died as the train left for Florida. Mah-mante
predicted that he himself would soon die, both as a penance
and from the exertion of the witching, and he died at Fort
Marion in July, 1875. White authorities believed Kicking
Bird had been murdered by relatives of the deported Kiowas.
(Nye, 1962: 277-81; Corwin, 1958: 109.)

By contrast, the selection process among the
Cheyennes was far more arbitrary. At the Cheyenne and
Arapaho agency, Lt. Col. Thomas H. Neill, with the limited
assistance of Agent J.A. Miles, collected evidence for two
days by interviewing Indians who were either under arrest at
the agency or who were coming in to surrender. The military
viewed the Red River War as primarily a Cheyenne outbreak,
and it is clear that Neill considered all the surrendered
bands to be guilty. Accounts vary as to the sequence of
events at the agency, but there was an escape attempt in the
evening of the second day (April 6.) Alarmed by the ensuing

firing, the assembled Indians tried to run. The military

54

quickly and brutally stopped the mass flight. Neill, whose
patience with the slow process of determining individual
guilt had been minimal at best, abandoned the effort, and
after quiet was restored, arbitrarily selected most of his
candidates for prison. (Covington to Adjutant General,
October 15, 1875, Red River War File, NA; Petersen, 1971:
6.)

The Indian warriors selected for prison were,
therefore, a mixed group. Sixty-eight men were chosen from
the three tribes who had been the active participants in the
Red River War--Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche. The Cheyennes
included band leaders such as Heap of Birds, Bear Shield,
Minimic, Grey Beard, and Lean Bear--prominent men. Most of
the group were warriors, ranging in age from about twenty to
the mid-thirties. The only woman accused of a crime was the
Cheyenne Mochi, wife of Medicine Water, another prisoner.
Of the thirty-three, only twelve were accused of specific
acts of violence: none of the chiefs were accused of any
specific crime and were really hostages for the good
behavior of their people. Several men were related to each
other. (See Appendix A, prisoner list, and Appendix B,
individual biographies of the prisoners.)

The list of the Kiowas included twenty-seven men,
seven of whom were prominent leaders (WOman’s Heart, White
Horse, Taneti, Double Vision, Bear-in-the-Clouds, Lone Wolf,

and Mah-mante.) Most of the twenty warriors were under

55

thirty years of age. The nine Comanches included only the
warriors of Black Horse’s band, and he was the only leader
selected. Every man in both groups was accused of murder,
theft, horse-theft, or some combination of crimes. Black
Horse’s wife, Pe-ah-in, refused to leave her husband in
prison alone, and Pratt allowed her and her daughter to go
to Florida with the group. (Pratt and the Indians believed
that all the men would eventually be able to send for their
wives and children.) The group sent to Florida was brought
to a total of seventy-four by the inclusion of three men,
two Arapahos and a Caddo, accused of murder and attempted
murder in incidents unrelated to the Red River War.
(Prisoner list, Appendix A.)

The Cheyenne prisoners were transferred in irons to
Fort Sill where they were joined by the Kiowas and Comanches
in late April, 1875. Lt. Pratt brought the Kiowas and
Comanches to Fort Sill, and there asked to be allowed to
escort the prisoners to Fort Marion, the site finally
selected as the prison. In his letter of application to
General Sherman, Pratt expressed his disappointment at the
constitution of the group and the decision not to try the
leaders. He believed the young men were ”not really so
culpable”: they had ”simply been following their leaders,
much as a soldier obeys his officers." (Pratt, 1964: 106-
7.) Nevertheless, he was interested in becoming prison

superintendent, and for the sake of his family, he wanted a
change from his duties in Indian Territory.

56

Sherman ordered Pratt to take the Indians to Fort
Leavenworth to await further orders and then to transport
them to Fort Marion by train. He was to ”remain in
immediate charge of these Indians until further notice
and...attend to the supply of their proper wants, etc."
(Adjutant General to Pratt, May 11, 1875, in Pratt, 1964:
109-10.) His orders in conducting the prison were never
made more specific in the three years of his duty.

After a train ride of several days, Pratt and his
Indian charges arrived in St. Augustine, the location of
Fort Marion, May 21, 1875. The Indians were apprehensive
and many were seriously depressed throughout the trip, which
they made in chains and wearing the same clothes in which
they had surrendered. During the trip, both Lean Bear and
Grey Beard attempted suicide. Lean Bear, who had also tried
to hang himself at Fort Leavenworth, had concealed a knife
in his blankets and stabbed himself several times. The
guards assumed he was dead and left him for burial in
Nashville, Tennessee, but he revived. After he arrived at
Fort Marion several weeks later, he went on a hunger strike
and died of its effects. Gray Beard jumped from the train
in Georgia and the guards shot him when he refused to stop.
Before he died, he told Minimic that he had wanted to die
ever since being chained and taken from Indian Territory.
(Pratt, 1964: 114-15.) The Indians were the objects of

sensational curiosity everywhere along their route to

57

Florida: the press covered their stops with lurid, often
fictional accounts of their misdeeds and appearance, and
crowds frequently surrounded the train for glimpses of the
"savages." (Pratt, 1964: 111-15.)

For the first few weeks in the fort, the Indians
were kept in chains and housed within the casemates. The
dampness, heat, and inactivity augmented the problems of
dislocation and depression, and many of the men were soon
ill and two died (Sun and Mah-Mante.) Pratt appealed for
permission to remove the irons and begin programs of
activity and education, and by the fall of 1875, he had
begun his experiments in 'Americanizing' the prisoners.
(Pratt, 1964: 118.)

After removing the shackles, Pratt began to lift the
Indians from "the curio class" by cutting their hair and
dressing them in White clothing. As will be seen, Pratt
actually exploited the prisoners’ exoticism to elicit
support for his ideas of Americanization and to raise money.
What he intended at this point was to make the Indians look
like Whites as much as possible during their regular, day-
to-day activities and to get them accustomed to White
garments and grooming habits. After insisting that the
trousers could not be cut apart to make leggings, Pratt
gradually introduced inspections in which the men were
evaluated on the care of their clothing, by now cast-off

military uniforms. He had the guards teach the men to clean

58

their clothes, polish their shoes, and shine their brass
buttons. (Pratt, 1964: 119. Pratt’s memoirs provide a
vividly detailed account of the Fort Marion programs and
will be heavily relied upon.)

In an effort to alleviate the early health problems
at the fort, Pratt ordered the prisoners to build large
barracks on the north terreplein. This was cooler, open to
breezes, and much drier than the casemates, and the better
housing, in combination with great activity, did result in
improved health. Two more men (Straightening-an-Arrow, and
Big Mocassin) died in the autumn of 1875, but only one death
occurred in 1876 (Shaving Wblf.) (Pratt, 1964: 136-46.)

Almost as soon as the chains of his prisoners were
removed, Pratt began to establish his methods of
Americanizing the Indians. Most of his programs and ideas
were put into effect within weeks, certainly by Christmas of
1875, and continued with greater and greater elaboration
until the prisoners’ release in May of 1878. The activities
had several distinct purposes: one, to teach the Indians
how to work and to understand that work had value; two, to
instruct them in the cultural mores of White Americans such
as Christianity and manners: and three, to teach them
English and specific skills that might be useful in earning
a living. Pratt believed that such an education could be
achieved only if the Indians were treated respectfully, and

only if they were in frequent interaction with White people

59

in every sort of activity ranging from commercial to social.
His policies at the fort reflected these purposes and
conditions, and were surprising to local people, visitors,
and the military authorities because of the degree of
freedom granted to the prisoners.

In the fall of 1875, Pratt requested that the
military guard at Fort Marion be removed. He was sure that
he had won the trust of the Indians and that, while he
expected no trouble, he could personally handle any that
might arise. The local commander was understandably
suspicious, but his objections were overruled from
Washington, and Pratt promptly created his own Indian
militia to police the fort. Except for one brief period of
trouble in 1876, no White soldiers ever again guarded these
prisoners. Instead, young Indian men drilled in formation
in the courtyard and stood guard at the entrances and watch
posts. Eventually, they were used as much to regulate the
entrance of curious Whites as to prevent trouble among
themselves. Fort Marion’s Indians very quickly became a
leading tourist attraction in Florida (just beginning its
winter home-tourism development), and the drills of the
militia were a continuing popular event. (Pratt, 1964:
120, for example.)

As the residents of St. Augustine became more
accustomed to the presence of the Indians at the fort and

convinced of their peacefulness and industriousness, Pratt

60

began issuing passes to the men to leave the fort. They
were allowed to come and go relatively unrestricted--they
did not have to be accompanied and could be gone as long as
they wished, returning only at nightfall. The only
requirement was that they had to have some purpose for the
visit to St. Augustine, usually shopping. Pratt generally
encouraged them to go out in pairs for their own protection.
The outings were so popular that Pratt used the denial of
passes as a most effective disciplinary device. (Such
offenses as failure to present a neat appearance or
insubordination might be punished by withholding passes.)
Thus, Pratt rather quickly eliminated the restrictions on
personal movement characteristic of prisons and instead made
the Indians responsible for their own actions to a
remarkable degree. (Pratt, 1964: 132.)

As soon as he had achieved a regular routine of
daily activity in the fort based on military discipline,
Pratt implemented his educational ideas. The men were
already being trained in personal hygiene and appearance,
and stood daily inspections of their quarters. To begin
their instruction in the meaning and value of work, Pratt
obtained commissions from local curio dealers to have the
prisoners polish sea beans (mackay beans carried in on the
tides) which would eventually be sold to tourists.
Initially, the dealers furnished the beans in quantity and

taught the men the polishing technique. They paid ten cents

61

per bean; the men polished 16,000 in the first few months.
(Pratt, 1964: 119.) An Indian was free to do as he pleased
with the money he earned, but Pratt encouraged the men to
send money home, both to aid their families and to show
their families that they were learning to be self-sufficient
wage earners. As the months passed, Pratt and the Indians
discovered that they could collect the beans themselves,
polish them, and sell them directly at the fort or in St.
Augustine to visitors. Not surprisingly, the local curio
dealers objected when the Fort Marion Indian entrepreneurs
under cut their market, but the sea bean trade remained
imortant until the prisoners’ release. (Pratt to St.
Augustine City Council, January 23 and 24, 1876; Pratt to
Post Commandant, January 23 and 24, 1876. PP. Pratt was
ordered by the local military commander to buy provisions
for the Indians elsewhere until the local merchants were
more cooperative.)

The tourist traffic to the fort offered other means
of earning cash as well. Pratt provided the materials for
the Indians to make bows and arrows, painted shields, and
other items for sale. The two women produced bead work and
at least some garments--some of which may have been the re-
worked originals in which the people arrived at the fort.
(Pratt to Chambers, June 22, 1874, PP. Petersen, 1971:
67.) Some of the men achieved a certain lasting recognition

for their sketches and drawings--again, Pratt provided the

62

materials--which they both sold and gave away. (The artists
are the subject of Karen Daniels Petersen’s books, including

Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion, 1971; A Cheyenne

 

 

 

Sketchbook by Cohoe, 1964; and Howling WOlf, 1968.) A few

 

 

men earned additional money by teaching the children of
visitors to use bows and arrows. Outside the fort, some of
the Indians served as baggage handlers at the train depot,
and once they learned boat handling, some took tourists on
sailing tours of the St. Augustine area. Pratt eventually
found that the constant demand for the "exotic” and the
heavy traffic at the fort were distracting his men from
their basic task (learning White American culture) and began
to limit the hours and days when visitors could enter the
fort and to gently discourage the manufacture of Indian
curios. (Pratt, 1964: 116-65.)

Pratt found the St. Augustine area to be most
inadequate in providing forms of labor and income for his
men unrelated to the tourist trade. There were few local
industries and little opportunity for employment but he made
the most of the limited local resources. The Indians worked
in contract labor gangs for local citrus farmers out of
season clearing the mangrove swamp lands for orange groves--
back breaking labor. In season, they worked picking and
packing oranges for shipment north. A few worked as saw
mill hands. Pratt also provided a labor team to dig a new

deep well for the city of St. Augustine, and another to move

63

a church building within the city. All of these tasks Pratt
described as the most difficult, most disagreeable work
available, for which no other labor could usually be found.
He reported proudly that his men performed successfully in
every case, quickly and with no complaining. Several men
also worked at various times for businesses and individuals
in St. Augustine as general laborers and handymen. (Pratt,
1964: 128-29.)

It is impossible to determine from the records
exactly which and how many of the prisoners worked at these
various jobs. Judging from Pratt’s descriptions and those
of fort visitors, it seems likely that nearly everyone
participated to some degree in the tourist trade, but it is
clear that relatively few worked at most of the other jobs
although the large work details--church moving, for example-
- no doubt were comprised of most of the men. It is also
likely that the older prominent men did not generally work
for wages as did the younger able bodied warriors. (See
later discussions for additional differences between the
younger and older men.) Finally, in an effort to both
economize and teach a useful trade, Pratt had a bakery built
and put two young men (Beahko and Ohettoint) to work
producing the ration bread. They were paid from ration
funds. (Pratt to Miles, 1877, PP; Petersen, 1971: 163.)

Since there was not enough work available to keep

many men regularly employed, Pratt undertook to fill vacant

64

hours with instruction and recreation. Several times a week
local and visiting women came to the fort to teach English
classes. These were attended mostly by the younger men, and
Pratt reported that some made substantial progress. In an
effort to prepare the men for their return to their
reservations, where they would be expected to live in
houses, Pratt brought carpenters and house builders to the
fort to demonstrate house construction and shingle making.
Local and visiting ministers taught Sunday school each week
and preached sermons at church services. (Pratt, 1964:
155-66.)

The church services became an especially important
demonstration of Pratt’s success in civilizing the Indians.
They were attended by many visitors including such important
reform activists as Bishop Henry Whipple of Minnesota,
famous for his rescue of hundreds of Sioux after the
uprising of 1862 and later to be one of Pratt’s chief
benefactors, who wrote glowing accounts in major
publications. One such story, published in October, 1877,
included a description of the Indians’ songs and prayers and

the following speech by Soaring Eagle:

It is good to go to church. When I was at my
home I did not know about church. At home I did not
wear good clothes. My hair was long. I know now to
spell and read a little, and will know more. When I
go home I hope to sit down and sing God’s hymns...At
home I did not know who Jesus was, I loved to hunt,
shoot, and sleep on Sundays like other days, but the

65

Bible God’s book has told me it was wrong. I now
look up to Jesus who has been so good to me and pray
to him to forgive all my past sins and to make me
his child. (Unidentified church pamphlet, Mrs.
Pratt’s Scrapbooks, PP.)

Conscious of the anxiety and distress his prisoners
felt in their isolation from their homes and families, Pratt
did all he could to boost morale. He regularly took the
entire group out of the fort for camping expeditions to a
nearby island, believing a change of scene, routine, and air
were beneficial not only to the morale but to health. He
had the men taught to sail, and permitted frequent
excursions, even staging races in the bay. Furnished by him
with fishing equipment, the men often caught their own
dinners--after they acquired a tast for seafood. Pratt
allowed the men to stage their own entertainments,
especially foot races and Indian games, although gambling
was forbidden. Those who showed the best progress, or who
were Pratt’s special favorites (for example, the chiefs
Minimic and Lone Wolf), were sent to St. Augustine to eat in
restaurants. Perhaps most remarkable, given the tenor of
the times, was Pratt’s promotion of picnics for the young
Indian men and young White women of the area. (Pratt, 1964:
116-27, 181-90.)

Pratt also arranged with representatives of the
Smithsonian Institution for the participation of the Indians

in the collection of archaelogical and natural science data.

For several weeks in 1877 they provided the field crew for

66

excavations of near-by Indians mounds. When an enormous saw
fish was caught off St. Augustine, an Indian crew hauled it
ashore, cleaned, and mounted it for shipment to Washington.
Clark Mills, a noted sculptor, came to Fort Marion to take
plaster casts of each prisoner’s head--the men themselves
becoming the objects of scientific investigation. In
addition to being modeled in plaster, each man was weighed
and measured, and Pratt and Mills prepared a list describing
their physical attributes and giving brief details about
their crimes. (This list is duplicated in Appendix A for
reference. Smithsonian Institution, Proceedings of the
National Museum for 1878. The casts were on display at the
Smithsonian for years.) (Pratt, 1964: 136-46.)

The residents of St. Augustine being initially
alrmed at the presence of the "dangerous savages” in the
fort so close to their homes, Pratt quickly set out to allay
their fears. His constant demonstrations of the Indians’
peaceful nature and usefulness gradually made an impact, and
local people began to visit the fort frequently. Most of
these were women who came at first out of curiosity but
returned to befriend and to teach the prisoners. The
townspeople became accustomed to employing the Indians at
odd jobs and to seeing them moving unaccompanied on the city
streets. There was some objection to this freedom of
movement, and to the absence of guards at the fort,

expressed in the local newspaper in 1876 and in a petition

67

to Congress (on which no action was ever taken.) Pratt
countered by reminding the editor that the Indians had been
responsible for saving much of the city from burning by
providing a bucket brigade during a recent fire, and he made
no changes in his policies. (Pratt, 1964: 132-35.) As
Pratt began his campaign for the release of the prisoners
and the provision of schooling for some of them, it was the
local women who provided much of the important initial
support by staging benefits and writing letters to
influential friends.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was among those influential
friends. She had a winter home some distance from St.
Augustine. Brought to the fort by a Miss Mather, one of the
most active teachers and Pratt supporters, Mrs. Stowe also
regularly taught English classes. By the 1870’s, Mrs.
Stowe, who had won fame as an opponent of slavery, had
turned to other issues, including the ”Indian problem."
Greatly impressed by Pratt’s work, she became one of his
most ardent and effective propagandists. Beginning in 1876,
she wrote lengthy pieces for such nationally important

publications as The Christian Union and Harper’s Weekly,

 

 

 

describing the men in the fort and Pratt’s programs. The
largest part of each article was devoted to the classroom
teaching and the church services, viewed as most important
in bringing the Indians to civilization. In her letter to

the Christian Union, April 25, 1877, she concluded with a

68

passage echoing Pratt’s more and more frequent appeals for
the education of the men. Noting that many of the young

unmarried men wanted to stay east to learn trades, she

asked:

Is not here an opening for Christian enterprise?
We have tried fighting and killing the Indians, and
gained little by it. We have tried feeding them as
paupers in their savage state, and the result has
been dishonest contractors, and invitation and
provocation to war. Suppose we try
education?...Might not the money now constantly
spent on armies, forts, and frontiers be better
invested in educating young men who shall return and

teach their people to live like civilized beings?
(PP)

Mrs. Stowe’s appeal reflected the efforts Pratt had
begun as early as January 1876 to achieve the release of the
prisoners and to provide further education for the younger
men. Important reformers and politicians increasingly
supported his position until Pratt was successful in 1878.
In a letter to General Sheridan, January 17, 1876, Pratt
wrote:

The behavior of the prisoners has been so good
that I would recommend their release and return to
their people at an early day. There is a difference
in guilt, and it might be better that the worst
cases be held longer than the less guilty. I am
satisfied, however, that all have been cured.(PP)

Over the next several months, Pratt continued to
press for release and introduced the notion of extended

schooling for the younger men. At first, he suggested that

six to ten of the most eager be sent to agricultural or

69

industrial schools to teach them to become helpers at their
agencies. (Pratt to Adjutant General, March 21, 1876, in
Pratt, 1964: 172-73.) If government funds were not
available for such a purpose, he asked permission to accept
charitable contributions to make it possible. Pratt also
insisted that the progress the men had made could be
sustained only if, when released, they were supported and
cited as examples by the local authorities, rather than
being simply put back among "the reservation herds” where
they would "fall back” to the level of their people. (Pratt
to Sherman, May 1, 1876, in Pratt, 1964: 179.) He
continued to argue for release, for practical aid to those
sent home, and for additional schooling for some, and by
1877, wanted the families of those educated to be also
included in the training:

All indications favor that the best results will
follow clemency and practical assistance to these
people. Their conduct here is deserving of the
highest praise, and should be rewarded with a change
of condition. A few of the old men would be an
element of great good sent back to their tribes.

The younger men can so easily be carried forward to
industrious civilization that it would seem a sin to
deny them the facilities, but their women and
children should be included, else much labor is
lost. (Pratt to Adjutant General, February 20,
1877, Kiowa Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.)
After receiving some informal encouragement from the
military and enthusiastic support from the Bureau of Indian

Affairs, church groups, and his local teachers, Pratt began

actively to plan and arrange for education for the younger

70

men. Late in 1877 he took a survey of the prisoners and
found that twenty-two wanted to stay in the east for further
training. (Pratt to CIA, April 23, 1878, PP.) WOrking with
his local and religious supporters, Pratt began to raise
money to send some of the men to various locations to live
with White families, attend local schools, and receive
special tutoring. During the winter and spring of 1877-78,
a number of benefit performances were held at which both St.
Augustine townsfolk and the Indians performed. In response
to these "entertainments" and Pratt’s appeals, individuals
and groups volunteered to support all twenty-two students.
Some even offered to take the Indians into their homes.
(Pratt, 1964: 189-90.)

Once funding was assured, Pratt began to look for
appropriate places to send the young men. Once again, Miss
Mather provided a crucial recommendation, this time to
General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder and superintendent
of the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute. (Hampton
was opened in 1868 as a special training school for Blacks.)
Armstrong agreed to take the seventeen students who were not
being taken directly into the homes of their benefactors.
Those other five were to go to Paris Hill and Tarrytown, New
York, where they would receive additional religious
training. (Pratt, 1964: 190.)

In April of 1878 the War Department released the

prisoners to the care of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

71

pending their transfer back to Indian Territory. During the
three year imprisonment, Pratt had developed and
experimented with the concepts and methods of Indian
education which would be the seeds of his practices at
Carlisle, which he would go on to found in 1879. He
believed that the results of his efforts were clear:
Indians could be taught the "White Man’s Road" through firm
discipline combined with genuine respect in a context
removed from the debasing influences of the traditional
cultures.

The visible results seemed to bear out his beliefs.
There had been almost no overt resistance to his programs at
the fort. In general, the men had responded cooperatively,
with very little of the resentment or surliness that might
have been expected. Pratt maintained discipline with
remarkably little difficulty through a shrewd combination of
rewards for "good behavior," the use of informers, and
denial of privileges (freedom of movement, association with
peers, and good food) for offenses. The Kiowas did plan an
escape attempt in 1876 after the government failed to send
their wives and children to Florida, but Ah-ke-ah, a very
young prisoner, informed Pratt of the plans. Pratt locked
the leaders in solitary confinement for several weeks,
brought in the military guards for a few days, delivered a
sermon on cooperation and the wonderful opportunities being

offered the men at Fort Marion, and then dropped the matter.

72

He considered the attempt a "natural” outgrowth of the
"trying uncertainty of their imprisonment." (Pratt to
Adjutant General, April 7, 1876, PP.) The incident was
quickly forgotten. There were petty thefts, a few
arguments, and incidents of insubordination, but Pratt did
not consider these to be signs of serious resistance. He
believed that only the Kiowa leaders, especially White
Horse, were not showing clear signs of acceptance of White
culture. (Pratt, 1964: 152-53.)

Although most of the men participated to some degree
in Pratt’s programs, the youngest prisoners were most active
and receptive. They were the students in the English
classes, the members and officers of the militia, the
bakers, and Pratt’s orderlies and assistants. Pratt and his
teachers believed that these young men were their hope for
the future and unabashedly lavished attention on them,
singling out several for special visits, trips away from the
fort for medical treatment, fancier clothing, and personal
friendships. (Etahdleuh, Howling Wolf, especially.
Petersen, 1971: 137-49: 1968: 21-64. Ah-ke-ah, the young
Kiowa informer, was even the subject of a syrupy poem, ”Ah-
ke-ah’s Lament," by an unidentified author. Mrs. Pratt’s
Scrapbooks, PP.) It should not be surprising that the group
responded to this treatment with genuine efforts to learn
English and perform special duties. The more they

progressed, the more privileges and higher status positions

73

they received. (The importance of early acquisition of
status to a Plains Indian warrior should not be ignored
here. Petersen has also noted the importance of the age
factor in her study of the art produced by the prisoners.
Only the young men were artists. Petersen, 1971: 15.)

The division between the older and younger men was
clear in 1877 when Pratt forwarded to the Adjutant General
an appeal from the prisoners for their release. Instead of
the old chiefs and head men speaking for the whole group,
Making Medicine spoke for the young men and Minimic for the
old. Both asked for a return to their families and for
grants of land, and both promised to farm to support
themselves, but Making Medicine specifically promised that
the young men would live in houses, raise animals, and teach
their children:

I speak for the young men; we want to work. We
young men all belong to you...We are thankful for
what we have learned. This is the feeling of all
the young men that are here. We are willing to
learn, and want to work. (February 20, 1877, Kiowa
Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.)

Minimic spoke more traditionally for "all the
Kiowas, Comanches, and Cheyennes," but with assurance that
they could work even if they were old.

In the spring of 1877, two Kiowas were sent back to
Indian Territory: Woman’s Heart, an older chief, and Ah-ke-
ah, who had contracted tuberculosis. Ah-ke-ah died in June,

and WOman’s Heart wrote to Pratt through Agent Haworth to

74

tell him that the young man had carried Pratt’s "good talk”
with him to the grave. Woman’s Heart himself had ”learned a
great deal about white people’s way--much of which I can not
keep in practice here.“ (WOman’s Heart-Agt. Haworth to
Pratt, June 20, 1877, PP.) A year later, in May of 1878, a
steamer arrived at Fort Marion to carry all the men to
Hampton Institute. From there the surviving prisoners who
would not be further educated went on to Indian Territory
and seven young men went to New York State to the homes of
their mentors. The other fifteen stayed on at Hampton. In
the next chapter, we shall examine the reservation milieu to
which the older former prisoners were immediately returning,
and in which all the former prisoners would live the rest of

their lives.

75

Chapter 4

Reservation Life: 1878-1912

After three years of intense immersion in White
American culture in an environment totally removed from
their homes, thirty-seven Fort Marion prisoners returned to
Indian Territory. Their friends and families were living a
life very different from the one they had known before
prison, and during their lifetimes, that life would change
even more drastically. Those changes meant the end of
nomadic buffalo hunting and the emergence of a new,
sedentary life based at first on government rations and
later on small scale agriculture and rents. At the same
time, the people experienced pressure to adopt White culture
in all its ramifications: religion, language, clothing,
subsistence, healing. Their actual acceptance of that
culture--their acculturation--was markedly limited until the
early twentieth century, but they did make accomodation to
their new situation by creating new, distinctly Indian,
institutions. It was in this context that the ex-prisoners
made their own choices and adaptations, and their lives will
later be compared to those of their peers.

The returning prisoners found their people living in

76

1878 as they might have, in the old days, only during large
summer gatherings for Sun Dances or communal buffalo hunts.
In the preceeding three years, the tribes of both
reservations had been ”pacified": no bands remained on the
warpath; constant raiding against Whites and other Indians
had ended. Instead, the Indians were gathered in large
camps near the agencies and issue stations. (Darlington was
the agency headquarters for the Cheyenne-Arapaho
reservation, Fort Sill for the Kiowa-Comanche. In 1878, the
Kiowa-Comanche agency was moved to Anadarko when the
reservation was merged with the Wichita and Affiliated
Tribes reserve. See Map 2.) WOmen continued to cook for
their families, provide clothing and shelter, gather wood
and water, but men no longer hunted buffalo or fought
battles. Instead, they passed their time in such leisure
pursuits as games, gambling, story-telling, and ceremonial
activities. (See for example: Berthrong, 1976: 48-90;
Hagan, 1976: 120-66; Marriott and Rachlin, 1977: 1-22.)
Life was different from pre-Red River War days in
other ways as well. Almost all of the people’s food was now
government rations: coffee and sugar: beef: flour and lard
for bread the women were just learning to make. A few
months before the prisoners’ return, during the winter of
1877-78, the Cheyenne-Arapaho agent had allowed his charges
to organize an off-reservation buffalo hunt, hoping they

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77

 

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78

rations. The hunters could find no buffalo--the southern
herd was practically extinct--and no further large off
reservation hunts would again be allowed. The Kiowa and
Comanche fared no better; a hunting party off the
reservation in July of 1879 had to be rescued with
provisions from the agency. They could not even find enough
game to feed themselves. (Annual Report, J.D. Miles, August
31, 1878; Annual Report, P.B. Hunt, August 24, 1879.)

The routines of camp life were punctuated by the
excitement and rituals of issue days, weekly for beef and
less often for other commodities. Until the 1890’s , the
agents issued beef to the Indians live. The animals were
driven to corrals near the agencies and then released. Each
band received a certain number of head per person. (In
1889, one head for about twenty people. Agents believed
that six pounds per person per week was the minimum
necessary, although that ration was often reduced or
unavailable. Correspondence, Agent Miles, March, 1882, C&A
Letterbooks, vo1. 4, 195, 196-201, 209, OHSIA, for example.)
The band head, a figure who retained the authority of old
hunting band leaders, was responsible for supervising the
receipt of the beef. The warriors of the band pursued and
shot the terrified animals in the manner of a buffalo hunt,
and the women dressed and butchered the carcasses. The band
head then determined the allocation of the meat among the

families. (C&A Issues; Kiowa Issues, OHSIA. See also
Berthrong, 1976: 137; Hagan, 1976: 185; Seger, 1956.)

79

On other issue days, the people gathered at the
agencies to receive foods, clothing, agricultural tools,
cloth, seeds, household goods, or cash. As at the beef
issues, the band heads controlled the distribution of goods.
When the ex-prisoners returned, their peers often had no
idea how to use articles they received (certain clothing,
shoes, household gadgets), and might simply abandon them.
Other more valued items such as wagons, blankets, pots, or
knives became the currency of gambling or debt payment. The
Indians modified the clothing to suit their tastes:
trousers were cut apart to make leggings, hats were adorned
with feathers, and blankets were trimmed with beadwork. By
the late 1870’s, women used the calico issued to them to
make dresses of traditional pattern. On annuity days,
merchants and traders descended upon the camps intent on
collecting debts incurred by the Indians and upon offering
even more merchandise for sale. (Hagan, 1976: 171-74, for
example.)

The camps were plagued with serious health problems.
Because the people did not move as often and lived in much
larger groups than they had in the past, severe sanitation
problems arose. Disposal of waste became a monumental task.
Because they could get no more buffalo hides, and cattle
hides were inadequate (and could be sold for extra cash),
the Indians made their tipis from government issue canvas--

an inferior substitute which was not as waterproof nor as

80

warm in winter as buffalo hide. The quality of shelter
which the Indians now had was thus far worse--dirtier and
less protective--than before the reservation. In
combination with seriously inadequate rations and exposure
to diseases against which the people had no immunities, the
unsanitary, crowded, and inadequate living quarters resulted
in a very high rate of illness. Epidemics of smallpox,
measles, and cholera swept the camps, and malaria was a
constant hazard. Tuberculosis was making its first

widespread appearance in the late 1870’s, especially among

school children and their relatives. (Annual Reports,
Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency and Kiowa-Comanche Agency,
especially doctors’ reports when attached, 1878-1890. C&A

and Kiowa Schools Files also contain records of student
epidemics; OHSIA.)

Thus the people of the two reservations to which the
Fort Marion prisoners returned lived uncomfortable, and
markedly changed lives. But they were still distinctly
Indian lives: basic patterns in band and family structure,
leadership, religion, and day-to-day habits had not been
drastically altered. It had been all government and
military officials could manage to subdue the hostile bands
and set up the skeleton organization of agency
administration during the prisoners’ three year absence.
Now government officials, especially the agents, were

beginning to apply greater pressure to get the Indians to

81

conform to the plan for civilization which had been devised
for them. By the early reservation years, this plan, the
product of many years of the evolution of Indian policy and
as applied by reformers and Bureau of Indian Affairs
personnel, included several quite specific goals. (For
discussions of this evolution see: Priest, 1963; Mardock,
1971; Prucha, 1973.)

First, Indians were to become farmers and to support
themselves entirely from their produce or its sale. Second,
they were to own their farms individually. Communal land
ownership or agricultural work would not be allowed.
Following the model of the Homestead Act, an Indian farm
would be 160 acres. Third, Indians were to be converted to
Christianity. Fourth, Indians were to speak English, and
learn to read and write. An especially important sign of
civilization would be the number of Indian children
attending schools. Fifth, Indians were to adopt ”civilized”
behavior, a concept which included monogamous marriage
solemnized by White civil or religious authorities, White
styles of dress, residence in houses furnished according to
current modes, and responsible citizenship (voting, tax
payment.) Finally, Indians were to think of themselves as
Americans, not as members of tribes such as Cheyenne or
Kiowa. (For one statement of this plan, see Columbus Delano,
Secretary of Interior, Annual Report, 1874: iii-iv.)

As the agents, field matrons, school

82

superintendents, and agency farmers attempted to change
their charges to meet these goals, they also identified
behaviors which they would not tolerate. While the
prescriptions of the civilization plan were universally
applied to all Indians, these proscriptions were often
developed locally, by the agency personnel. The list of
discouraged activities grew during the late nineteenth
century as the Indians created new adaptations to their
situation. As soon as the agents learned of these new, but
distinctly Indian, behaviors they added them to the list.
An example of such new, and quickly forbidden, activities
was the peyote religion, a combination of traditional
religion and certain Christian concepts which used the
hallucinogen peyote as a sacrament. Authorities were quick
to condemn the use of the drug and successfully lobbied for
legislation against it. (See below for further discussion
of peyote on the South Plains.)

By the end of the nineteenth century, proscribed
behaviors had been clearly defined for the Indians of the
South Plains. The life-style known as ”camp life” was first
on the list. Camp life meant living in groups larger than
nuclear or limited extended families and using old fashioned
means of survival. Implicit in the concept were such acts
as living in tipis, cooking over open fires, using
traditional sanitation practices, using traditional Indian

furnishings such as skin bedding and backrests instead of

83

beds and chairs. (Field matrons’ reports from both
agencies, OHSIA, are excellent sources on camp life.)

Throughout this period, agents also struggled to
strip band heads and chiefs of their authority to direct
their followers’ behavior in such matters as movement of
groups, cooperation in farming, education of children,
distribution of rations and annuities. Agents viewed
respect for traditional leadership as a barrier to
civilization because many older leaders were conservative
and uncooperative; their people behaved accordingly. Agents
tried, therefore, to deal with Indians as individuals, not
as members of groups. (P.B. Hunt, Kiowa_Comanche Agent,
discussed destroying tribalism in his Annual Report, 1880.)

Dancing was a third proscribed behavior. At first
agents discouraged the Sun Dance and other traditional
ceremonies. Later, they declared them illegal, and denied
permission for them. As these dances were restricted, the
Indians created new ones, which the agents also forbade. In
the 1880’s, the Indians of the South Plains developed a new
secular dance/give-away, "dancing for horses” (described in
more detail later in the chapter), which the agents
vigorously opposed. (C&A and Kiowa Indian Dances Files,
OHSIA.)

Agency personnel frequently complained about the
Indian habit of wandering or ”visiting.” These phrases

referred to the Indian practice of frequent movement, a

84

heritage of the buffalo hunting past which was adapted to
suit reservation conditions. The Indian bands moved to
visit each other and to attend dances, but most movement was
to and from agency issue stations for rations, annuity
payments, and lease payments. The people often stayed near
the stations for long periods to feast, gamble, and trade
(viewed as wasteful or sinful by White authorities), and
thus were not on their assigned lands, farming. (Berthrong,
1976: 210; Hagan, 1976: 172, 184, 277; C&A and Kiowa
Passes Files, OHSIA; Agents’ Annual Reports.)

Officials also objected to the widespread practice
of sharing food, money, and trade and issue goods which was
also a heritage of the hunting days. Since the agency
personnel expected each Indian to be self— supporting, any
individual not working was not only a sign of wasteful
idleness, but also a drag on those who did work. To a
degree which the Whites could not understand, male
”idleness” had also been a part of the buffalo hunting life:
when not hunting (which was a good part of the time), men
relaxed, told stories, played games, or performed their
ceremonial obligations.

Agency personnel additionally created a
miscellaneous category of proscribed behavior generally
labelled Indian customs. This included any aspects of life
paralleling "civilized” behavior which the Indians continued

to perform in traditional ways. For example, Indian

85

marriage customs were seen as immoral, unsanctified by
either civil or religious autority. Native curers were
charlatans who did more harm than good; children were
undisciplined and spoiled; the destruction of property and
self-mutilation at funerals were barbarous, wasteful, and
useless. (For such statements, see C&A and Kiowa farmers’
reports, Farmers Files; Field Matrons Files, especially
Lauretta Ballew, Kiowa agency, OHSIA; agents’ Annual
Reports.)

Finally, agents viewed any open resistance to the
civilization program as the worst possible offense. When
the Cheyenne actually mounted organized resistance, led by
members of the warrior societies, the agents reacted by
appealing for troops and by withholding rations from
offenders.

The remarkable detail of the proscribed behaviors is
a clear indication that the agency personnel recognized many
dimensions of the cultures of the Indians of the South
Plains. In their reports, agents and others commented on
Indian performance both in adopting the White models and in
persisting in traditional ways. By the 1880’s, each annual
report included a section of statistics detailing the number
of Indians who sent their children to school, who farmed,
who spoke English, who dressed correctly, who lived in
houses. In the narrative sections, the agents described

'problems”-—the continuance of Indian traditions and the

86

prevalence of resistance. The agents and their assistants
were determined to eradicate the Indians’ native cultures,
and in their determination, they left a useful record of the
culture change which did take place on their reservations.
For a number of reasons, the methods used to try to
civilize the Indians on the two reservations were nearly
identical. First, the agency personnel were following the
uniform policy established by Congress and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. Second, they were in close, frequent
contact with one another and shared perceptions about their
charges, both in the idea of the sort of Indians they were
dealing with and in goals which they desired to achieve.
Third, the agents and other personnel were well aware that
the four tribes had a historical alliance and close cultural
ties. They understood that attempts to change any one
without changing them all would be futile. It was,
therefore, common for the agents to consult with each other
before taking action, to warn each other of Indian
activities, to ask for assistance in a crisis. Ideas were
sometimes tested on one reserve before being widely applied
on both. Differences in application of policy, specifically
leasing reservation lands and allotment, arose not from
agency attitudes and practices as much as from differing
geographic locations in proximity to major White ranchers
and Indian responses to pressure and promises from Whites.

(Freighting was tested first on the Cheyenne-Arapaho

87

reservation; see discussion later in chapter. Leasing and
allotment are also discussed. The agents warned each other
of Indian visits: C&A and Kiowa Passes Files, Letters
Received, OHSIA.)

The methods which the agents and their assistants
applied were both educational and punitive; in other words,
most of them combined teaching the Indians the White Man’s
Road with punishment for failure to follow it. The most
obvious of these was, of course, the agency schools.
Throughout the period, the agencies operated boarding
schools for school age children, and these were supplemented
by schools run by a variety of missions, most notably
Mennonite and Presbyterian. (In addition, a small number of
Indian students attended off-reservation schools such as
Carlisle or Haskell.) At no time until after the 1890’s did
the reservation schools have the capacity to enroll more
than 40% of the children, despite repeated pleas by agents
and school superintendents for increased school
appropriations. During the early 1880’s, the Cheyenne-
Arapaho schools could enroll about 25% of their children.
The capacity gradually increased to about 50% by 1890, where
it remained even after allotment. It reached 75% in the
early twentieth century. The capacity of the schools for
Kiowa and Comanche children went from about 13% in 1880 to
about 50% in 1900, and then to about 60-70% before WOrld War

1. Thus, a substantial proportion of Indian children were

88

never enrolled between about 1875 and 1910. Of those who
did enroll, very few attended regularly. (Berthrong, 1976:
31-32, 36-39, 78-90, 140-43, 227-30; Hagan, 1976: 39, 74-
75, 198-99, 221-23; C&A and Kiowa Schools Files, especially
superintendents’ reports, OHSIA.)

The enrollment and attendance of the children
remained a major source of contention between the agents and
Indian adults throughout the period. The agents on both
reservations repeatedly withheld rations from families
and/or bands who refused to send children to school, but
many nevertheless resisted. Enrollment at the Cheyenne
schools declined from about three hundred in 1880 to eighty
in 1884 when the Cheyenne boycotted in protest of leasing
the reservation to White ranchers. Enrollment remained low
until 1889, when the leaders of the boycott, the Dog
Soldiers, attempted to sieze food for the protesting
families. The attempt failed, and the boycott was
cancelled. As late as the mid-1890’s, two Cheyenne chiefs
(Red Moon and White Shield) kept their bands’ children out
of school and survived until 1898 on the charity of other
bands and credit from a local trader. (Berthrong, 1976:
227-230, 140-43.)

By the early twentieth century, fewer than 15% of
all Indian children on these reservations went beyond the
primary grades (1-3). Those who did could expect very

little reward if they returned to their homes. Returning

89

students were often the object of ridicule or might be
ostracized, and agents and others complained that once home
they "forgot” their English and their manners and put back
on their native clothes. Field Matron Lauretta Ballew of
the Kiowa-Comanche reservation complained in 1904 that
returning students were dancing for ponies “who had
graduated from one or two schools. They went far enough
back in the old road to take off their cloths and almost
dance naked.” (Monthly Report, 8/1/1904, Kiowa Matrons
File, OHSIA.)

Among the Kiowa, returning students who took the
part of the Whites and espoused Christianity and/or
allotment could be targets of witchcraft. At least two
young Kiowa men died after warnings from their elders to
stop exhorting their people to give up the old ways.
(Joshua Given and Etahdleuh Doanmoe. See Appendix B for a
biography of Etahdleuh, a former prisoner. Hagan, 1976:
213, gives an account of Given’s death.) Perhaps as
dispiriting as opposition from their peers was the almost
total lack of opportunity to apply their newly acquited
skills. Especially after the mid- 1880’s, returning
students found no work and support to continue their new
styles of life. (Funds for Indian employment were out; see
discussion later in chapter. Berthrong, 1976: 265-326;
Hagan, 1976: 262-285.)

Education was not, however, restricted to the young.

90

For adult education, there were sexually specific programs
designed to teach the men to farm and the women to be
housewives. Initially, the farming programs consisted of
placing the Indians on what were believed to be suitable
sites and issuing them farming tools. Each agency Operated
a demonstration farm where Indians could go to observe. The
agents also arranged to have land plowed for interested
Indians, a necessary assistance since Indian ponies were too
small for the work. Beginning in 1885, the reservations
were divided into farming districts, and the Indians were
urged/forced to relocate along the stream beds, sites of
some fertile land and water. A farmer was hired for each
district to travel among the bands to teach farming methods
and generally supervise behavior. Undoubtedly the most
successful of these was John Seger on the Cheyenne-Arapaho
reservation, who not only supervised farming but founded a
school at his headquarters. Unlike most of the other
farmers, Seger was well liked by the Indians. He spoke
Cheyenne and did not interfere with traditional religious
events or other activities to the degree others did. Most
farmers were White, and some were mere patronage appointees
ill suited to the work, but by the 1890’s, a few were
educated Indians. Throughout the reservation period, issues
of farm equipment and seeds continued. After allotment
(1891 for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, 1901 for the Kiowa and

Comanche), this structure of instruction and assistance

91

remained intact, although many issues ceased with the
termination of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge. (Berthrong,
1976: 48-78, 118-123, 128-31, 141-42, 192, 265; Hagan,
1976: 16, 56, 96, 120, 127-28, 143, 181-82, 240-41, 249.
See also C&A and Kiowa Farmers Files, OHSIA; Seger, 1956.)

Of all the goals of the civilization program, making
farmers of the Indians was perhaps most important to the
White authorities. It would mean the Indians were self-
supporting, not wards of the state. Of all the goals, it
was also perhaps the least successful. About 1880, almost
no Indians were farming. The plowed lands on the
reservations belonged to the agencies, the schools, and
Whites living on the reservations--the ”squaw men,” White
men married to Indian women and enjoying the full benefits
of tribal membership. On the Cheyenne and Arapaho
reservation, only about one thousand acres, or about 4.5 per
person, were planted by Indians in the early 1880’s. The
figure was even lower for the Kiowwa and Comanche. Faced
with their failure to enlist Indians as farmers, the agents,
interested in obtaining revenue to support their charges,
and neighboring ranchers, eyeing the thousands of acres of
pasture on the reservations, hit upon an idea. Since the
Indians would not farm the land, the agents would arrange to
lease it to the ranchers. (Agents’ Annual Reports, 1878-
1884.)

Leasing began on the Cheyenne and Arapaho

92

reservation in 1883 and lasted until 1885. The Indians were
gathered in huge groups near Darlington and Cantonment (Map
2) to clear the area for the ranchers’ herds. Most Cheyenne
and Arapaho opposed the leases, however, and the Dog
Soldiers frequently attacked the herds and harrassed the
cowboys. Their school boycott has already been mentioned.
Cheyenne and Arapaho protests and direct action convinced
the agents that leasing would not work, and the farming
efforts resumed, but by 1889, only about 20% of the Indians
were farming, at an average of eight acres each--hard1y
adequate to be self-sufficient. That percentage actually
began to decline after allotment, when the Indians began to
lease their individual holdings to their White neighbors.
By 1900, it was 15%, and by 1910, farming by the Cheyenne
and Arapaho had all but disappeared. (Berthrong, 1976: 91-
117, 146, 265, 337.) Leasing on the Kiowa-Comanche
reservation began in 1888 and lasted until allotment. It
was opposed by many of the Indians, especially the Kiowa,
but important Comanche chiefs, notably Quannah Parker,
favored it. These men were undoubtedly in the pay of the
ranchers who were headquartered in Texas near the Comanche
southern section of the reservation. The leases of about
1.5 million acres thus effectively removed that land from
Indian use. (Hagan, 1976: 150-53, 217-249.)

Other lands on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation also

passed to Whites before allotment through the practice of

93

share-cropping. When the Cheyenne and Arapaho were allotted
in 1891, many Kiowa and Comanche realized that they should
choose their lands. A large proportion of those who did so
actually began farming, at least on a small scale.
Following the lead and encouragement of important squaw men
who controlled thousands of acres, they then sublet their
farms to Whites, who enlarged the plowed areas and supplied
fences and other improvements. The Indians received shares
of the crops. (An example was Pautausape, an ex-prisoner
who share-cropped the farm he owned by about 1890. He
provided his government-issue plow and cultivator and
received three fifths of the crop. See Appendix B, prisoner
biographies.) Most often, the Indians left their lands and
went to live with family bands. Within a few years, nearly
all farming done on the reservation was by White
sharecroppers. After allotment, these became the lesees of
the Indian lands. As on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reserve,
very few Kiowa or Comanche farmed during the twentieth
century. (Hagan, 1976: 240-41, 287, 182-83; Kiowa Leases
File, Kiowa Cattle File-OHSIA.)

It is more difficult to precisely assess the program
to make housewives of Indian women than the effort to make
farmers of the men. The field matrons, women hired to
travel from band to band to teach such skills as cooking,
sewing, and household decoration, did not keep the same sort

of statistical records as farmers could on acreage planted

94

and numbers farming. Nevertheless, they did file monthly
and annual reports in which they discussed their “ladies’”
progress, and it is clear, even acknowledging a certain
amount of self-serving exaggeration, that the Indian women
did respond relatively favorably.

The first field matrons, who served the same
districts as the farmers and were often their wives or
relatives (or agents’ relatives), were appointed in 1891.
As with the farmers, they were initially all White, but by
the mid-1890’s, educated Indian women were also chosen by
the agents. Their work was undeniably difficult. They
travelled, usually alone, by buggy or horseback, from band
camp to band camp to teach American-style housewifery. The
Indian women were receiving iron stoves, flour, lard, and
canned goods as annuity items which they did not know how to
use. They also received bolts of cloth, sewing patterns,
and treadle sewing machines--even more foreign devices than
the stoves. Given the end of buffalo hunting, which had
supplied food and clothing before the reservation era,
learning to use these new tools and supplies was crucial to
a comfortable existence, and the matrons often found a
willingness to accept instruction in this new technology.
Sewing was the most readily learned: the matrons complained
that stoves were often unused, but that they could not
supply the demand for cloth and sewing machines. (C&A and

Kiowa Matrons Files, especially Monthly Reports, OHSIA.)

95

The matrons’ responsibilities went beyond teaching
the basic techniques of cooking and sewing, however. As
houses appeared on the reservations, the matrons tried to
teach Indian women to keep them clean, and judging from
their reports, to properly decorate them. Lauretta Ballew,
the most voluble of the matrons, noted with pride the
occasion of Mrs. Lone WOlf’s putting up curtains (1896) and
the season when several families painted their houses green
and white (1898). The furnishings of the houses were also a
concern to the matrons, who carefully reported the presence
of beds, tables, and chairs. They also regularly noted how
many houses were actually occupied (or were vacant, or being
used as storehouses), and how many families either owned or
used a house. (CsA and Kiowa Matrons Files, OHSIA.)

Matrons also had moral obligations beyond teaching
the practical management of a frontier household. For
example, they espoused the "correct” method of child
rearing: stern discipline and schooling, as opposed to the
Indians’ easy guidance. In this capacity, they reported
children out of school and the behavior of returned
students. They monitored and reported peyote and alcohol
use. They even exhorted Indian women to make and wear
underwear. They also encouraged the women to attend
Christian churches (if the women convert, the men will
surely follow), and to this end, they organized holiday

celebrations, especially Christmas, to which the women

96

brought food and where children and women received gifts.
They also often held their classes in church buildings. As
part of their conversion efforts, they argued against
participation in dances and feasts and actively interfered
in .the staging of such events, both by appearing at them in
person to try to get the Indians to leave and by reporting
them to White authorities. (CsA and Kiowa Matrons Files,
OHSIA.)

Mrs. Ballew’s report for December, 1897, provides a
remarkable example of the impact a matron could have. She
reported the death of an elderly "medicine man," at which
she was present. Normally, his medicine bundle would have
been passed on to a younger man, but "this man said to his
wife ’bury the medicine with me I don’t want my people to
worship it any more.’" The old man then told his son to take
care of his ponies, "live in the house I have built for you,
and take care of your mother.'--a statement which reflects
both traditional and new values. As in the old way, the
first priority was the horses, and the last the woman, but
in the center was living in the new house. Not only were
the old man’s relatives to worship in some new way, but they
were also to live in a new way. Of course, Mrs. Ballew was
elated, and took steps to assure that the old man’s desires
were fulfilled: ”This is true I laid the medicine bundle
beside the man in the coffin myself and was glad to see it

buried.” (Kiowa Matrons File, OHSIA.)

97

Mrs. Ballew was obviously aggressive in her
activities, and, by her accounts, successful, but other
matrons also reported slow, but steady, progress in their
efforts, especially in practical areas. By the early
twentieth century, iron stoves were common, even in tipis,
and most bands had at least one sewing machine. After
issues stopped in 1898, the matrons helped the Indian women
to buy them, often by organizing craft cooperatives or
encouraging other work such as bone gathering or bread
baking. By 1900, traditional women’s dress patterns had
given way to simple White fashions, and nearly every home,
whether house or tipi, had at least a few White furnishings.
Indian women now even competed in local fairs in such events
as canning and baking. (C&A and Kiowa Matrons Files: C&A
and Kiowa Indian Fairs Files. OHSIA.)

The relative success which the field matrons enjoyed '
(despite their constant complaints about the persistence of
tradition in family life, religion, and liesure) can be
attributed to the essential usefulness of the skills which
they taught, and real possibility which the Indian women had
to succeed at them. The farmers could not offer such a
promise to men who tried to farm. Indian Territory was
unsuited to then current farming methods: The soil was too
sandy, the climate too hot and dry. Year after year, the
farmers reported crop failures. Apart from any cultural

aversion which Plains Indians might have had to farming,

98

there were simply no practical rewards to be had from trying
it. On the other hand, Indian women could continue to
provide food, clothing, and shelter to their families, to
pursue their accustomed roles, now using the materials and
methods of Whites. Craft cooperatives and fair competitions
even provided support and recognition much like they had
experienced in pre-reservation days in their women’s
societies. It is not surprising that the matrons found a
receptive audience.

Faced with large numbers of men who would/did not
farm, and ordered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to deny
certain rations to non-working Indians, the agents sought
other sources of employment for both men and women.
Undoubtedly the most successful non-agricultural labor was
freighting. Agent J.A. Miles (Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency,
1875-1884) had begun having his Indian men haul their own
supplies, and those for the agency, in 1877 when he founded
the Cheyenne-Arapaho Transportation Company. By 1879,
ninety-five men had been issued wagons (for which they had
to pay out of the proceeds of their work) and were working
as teamsters. Miles’ service provided a cash income for the
men, and it saved the government 50-75 cents per
hundredweight in freight charges. This work was actually
popular: unlike agricultural work, freighting seemed to
attract the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and demand for wagons

exceeded Miles’ ability to supply them. (Miles, Annual

99

Reports, 1879, 1880; Berthrong, 1976: 61-62; C&A Freight
and Transportation File, OHSIA.)

After Indian freighting was proven successful at the
Cheyenne-Arapaho agency, Agent P.B. Hunt (1878-1885) started
his own company at the Kiowa-Comanche agency. In 1879, he
had fifty men and wagons on the trials. He paid a lower
rate than the Cheyenne-Arapaho company initially, but raised
it as the service proved itself. During the decade of the
1880’s, freighting became the single largest employer of
Indians at both agencies. A man who made two trips per
year, as was usual, could earn between $14 and $50 to
supplement his annuities and issues. (Kiowa and C&A Freight
and Transportation Files: Vouchers, Receipts, Freight
Record, 23/23/1879 to 12/31/1895, OHSIA.) Freighting
remained important through the 1890’s, but ended after 1898.

In further attempts to make the Indians self-
supporting, and in response to a Bureau of Indian Affairs
order to employ Indians in preference to Whites, the agents
also made use of Indian labor at the agencies beginning in
the 1870’s, but the total number of jobs available was
always quite small: usually about two dozen per agency, not
counting. Indian police. Indians worked as herders,
teamsters, brick makers, general laborers, lumber mill
hands, butchers, and in the various shops (tinning,
carpentry, blacksmithing.) The introduction of Indian

police added fifty new jObs in 1878, but despite increases

100

in appropriations for Indian employment in 1879-81, there
remained very few opportunities. There were a total of 2129
adult males on the two reservations in 1878. Assuming a
total of 270 jobs, including 145 freighting, fifty police,
and seventy-five at agency work (estimating agency work high
to allow for counting error), only 13% had any chance of
agency employment. (Hunt and Miles, Annual Reports, 1878.)
It is probable that many more Indians would have worked for
wages had jobs been available: Agent Miles reported that
the Cheyenne liked wage work and that he could fill as many
positions as Washington would authorize. Women were also
employed as cooks and school aides, but these jobs were even
more scarce than those for men. Until late in the period,
off-reservation employment was non-existent. (C&A and Kiowa
Employees Files: C&A and Kiowa Censuses, 1878-1906. OHSIA.
Miles, Annual Report, 1883.)

A In 1884 Congress greatly reduced appropriations for
agency employees, and the agents were forced to fire most of
their Indian staffs. Opportunities for Indians to work at
the agencies remained extremely limited until the mid-
twentieth century, although a few were always used as
translators, school aides, and general helpers. After the
1891 Opening of the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation, Indians
from both reservations found wage labor picking cotton and
doing other seasonal agricultural work. It was not uncommon

for Indian families to pick cotton on their own land leased

101

to a White farmer. The number of Indians doing such work
was always small, however. (Tables 1 and 3, Chapter 5.)
During the late nineteenth century, a few Indian men also
served in the United States Army as scouts--an arrangement
that allowed them an average of only a few months service a
year, a cash income, and most desirable, a guaranteed old-
age pension. (C&A and Kiowa Employees Files, 1884-1910; C&A
and Kiowa Scouts Files. OHSIA. Hagan, 1976: 287, for an
example of wage work.)

Given such limited opportunities for Indian
employment, the agents also tried another alternative to
farming: ranching. The agents themselves recognized the
unsuitability of the area for farming and its great grazing
potential--stimulated, no doubt, by the presence of huge
cattle herds to the south and west. They also believed,
with some justification, that cattle could be a logical
substitute for the Indians’ ponies. These small hunting
horses could not pull plows or other farm machinery. The
Indians owned thousands of them, and the agents viewed them
as a wasteful drain of Indian wealth and resources. They
therefore offered to trade draft animals and breeding stock
for the ponies (1878)--they got almost no takers, despite
the renewals of the offer throughout the 1880’s and 1890’s.
The agency schools did establish successful herds, with the
animals owned by the school boys, but these were dispersed

in 1880-81 when the commissioner ordered that the cattle

102

should be distributed to the bands of the owners. They were
quickly eaten. In 1880, and again later in the 1880’s, two
or three head of cattle were issued to each head of
household, but since these were unaccompanied by breeding
instructions and collective herding was discouraged, most of
these, too, quickly disappeared. (Berthrong, 1976: 65-66;
C&A and Kiowa Issues Files, OHSIA.)

The major exception to this general failure of
ranching among the Indians of the two reservations was among
those Comanche who lived in the southernmost section of
their reserve. Several important headmen (noted above as
leaders of the pro-leasing group) established their own very
large herds with the help of Texas cattlemen from whom they
received both cash and cattle. These herds remained
important throughout the reservation period and were the
source of much of the food and income for the Indians of the
area in an era of inadequate rations--the chiefs were
obligated to share with their relatives, band members, and
allies. In the late 1880’s and 1890’s, other less powerful
men began to enter into partnership arrangements with White
ranchers: They would supply the land and a small core herd
and the White men would bring in larger herds. These were
formalized agreements arranged through the agency and were
generally undertaken by Indians with some experience in
dealing with Whites. For example, Tischecoddy (a former

prisoner) set up such an agreement for his land in the

103

1890's. He joined with other Indians holding land near his
and a White man for his ranching partnership. (Hagan, 1976:
120-21, 143-44, 156-57, 219, 237-40, 271-72, 278; Kiowa
Cattle, Pastures, and Grazing File, OHSIA: Appendix B,
'Tischecoddy.')

After 1895, the chiefs on the Kiowa-Comanche
reservation insisted that $50,000 per year of the lease
payments be used to provide cattle, bulls, and fencing for
tribal herds, which were run collectively. The herds grew
quickly, but after allotment, and especially with the sale
of the Big Pasture (a 400,000 acre reserve kept to maintain
the herds), they all but disappeared. The fragmentation of
Indian land into scattered 160 acre parcels made large scale
tribal ranching impossible. In addition, the end of the
Medicine Lodge rations and annuities meant that many of the
animals were used for food. By 1910, the Kiowa and
Comanche, like the Cheyenne and Arapaho, held no herds of
substantial size. (Hagan, 1976: 271-72; Hagan, 1971.)

White authorities applied other, non-economic,
methods during the reservation period, which were expected
to teach the Indians respect for Anglo-American laws and
mores. In 1878, for example, the agencies established
Indian police forces. The agents expected these men to
patrol their reservations enforcing edicts against dancing
and feasting, peyote, alcohol, and other traditional

activities. They were also to assist the agent in removing

104

unauthorized Whites from the reservations. This was a
severe problem: agents complained constantly of rustlers
stealing Indian livestock, whiskey sellers, outlaws hiding
in the hills, gamblers, and illegal traders gouging the
people, not to mention prospectors and ranchers ”stealing
grass.” There was more than enough work for the police just
to watch the reservation borders, and the agents found that
the officers would not arrest their fellows for cultural
infractions. (They did make arrests for crimes: thefts,
murder, rape.) For the entire reservation era, therefore,
the Indian police rarely performed punitive functions
against their people, but they were valuable in defending
their lands. (Hagan, 1976: 148-51: C&A and Kiowa Indian
Police Files, OHSIA: Hagan, 1966.)

Another attempt to involve the Indians in enforcing
White cultural demands were Courts of Indian Offenses,
established in 1883 on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation and in
1889 at Darlington. While the police forces were manned by
younger warriors, the agents quite deliberately appointed
important chiefs to the courts. They had been trying for
years to diminish the power of conservative leaders, and in
an effort to divide the chiefs among themselves, they
selected men who were thought to be more progressive (in
favor of cooperation with Whites.) The appointments were
thus both rewards for good behavior and incentives to lead

their people on the White Man's Road. Much to the agents'

105

dismay, the justices almost never agreed to rule on cultural
infractions such as multiple marriage or peyote use and
instead limited their rulings to crimes such as murder or
theft. (Hagan, 1976: 184, 186-88; Berthrong, 1976: 146:
C&A and Kiowa Indian Judges Files, OHSIA: Hagan, 1966.)
These civil institutions were accompanied by efforts
to convert the Indians to Christianity. Of course, the
agents did not undertake the preaching themselves, but
invited various missionaries to the reservations. The first
agents in the region had themselves been Quakers (1869-78),
and they, in turn, had placed the operation of agency
schools in Quaker hands. For a decade, mission and agency
were nearly indistinguishable, but with the end of Grant’s
Peace Policy and the appointment of secular agents, mission
activity markedly declined. During the early 1880’s, only
two full-time missions operated, both on the Cheyenne-
Arapaho reservation. The Mennonites opened their first
school/farm/mission in 1880 at Darlington where they
preached to the Arapahos. In 1881, David Pendleton (Making
Medicine) returned from his religious training (he was an
ex-prisoner: Appendix B.) to begin his life-long career as
an Episcopalian missionary to the Cheyenne. The Reverend
J.J. Wicks attempted, with the help of two other ex-
prisoners, to establish a Presbyterian mission in the 1880’s
on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation, but it remained part-time

and ended about 1885. (See discussion in Chapter 6.)

106

The agents viewed the weakness of missionary
activity among their Indians as a serious problem, and they
commented often that church groups should be encouraged to
send their representatives. Agent E.E. White (Kiowa agency)
wrote ”I recognize in them potent auxiliaries of the
government in the great and important work of civilizing and
Christianizing the Indians.” (Annual Report, 1888.) In the
late 1880’s, missionary activity did increase, especially
near Anadarko and Fort Sill. Methodist Episcopals operated
two chapels and schools for Comanches and a community of
Kiowa Mexican captives. Presbyterians ran a mission and
school for Kiowa-Apaches, and several other groups sent
occassional travelling ministers and priests. In the
1890’s, six groups received 160 acres each for permanent
mission sites, and by 1900, fifteen missionaries were
working among the Kiowa and Comanche. Among the Cheyenne
and Arapaho, the Mennonites remained dominant during this
period, expanding their operations to a second school and
farm near Cantonment. (Berthrong, 1976: 140-1, 226: Hagan,
1976: 193-94, 199, 229-31; C&A and Kiowa Churches Files,
OHSIA.)

Despite the enlargement of mission activity,
however, their impact remained small. In fact, their impact
was primarily educational rather than religious: every
permanent mission operated a small school which provided an

alternative for some families to the agency schools. These

107

were often filled to capacity (usually about twenty-five
pupils) by the children of converts, but at least one
mission school on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation served
exclusively the children of White agency employees and squaw
men. Others catered to the relatively more ”civilized"
Caddo and Wichita who shared the reservation with the Kiowa
and Comanche. (Hagan, 1976: 229-31: Kiowa Schools Files,
especially Mary Gregory School, OHSIA.)

Until at least after 1920, very few Cheyenne,
Arapaho, Kiowa, or Comanche actually belonged to churches
and fully participated in their activities. In 1904, for
example, the agents reported about fifty practicing
Christians among the 2858 Cheyenne and Arapaho, and 184
Christians among the Kiowa and Comanche. (Annual Reports,
CsA and Kiowa Agents Files, OHSIA.) Despite such low
membership figures, revival meetings such as one held by
Baptists near Anadarko in 1909 could attract as many as two
thousand Indians from several different tribes. Careful
reading of the proceedings of such meetings shows that the
people came for dancing, give-aways, and socializing, not
religious observation. (Hagan, 1976: 278-88: Kiowa
Churches File, OHSIA.)

The ultimate civilizing method which government
authorities applied to the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and
Comanche was allotment. Allotment, the issue of individual

parcels of land to Indians (usually 160 acres per person),

108

followed by the sale of any remaining lands to Whites, was a
practice long advocated by Indian reformers. They believed
that the holding of lands in common was a positive detriment
to the civilization of Indians: only though individual land
ownership--private property-~could Indians come to fully
appreciate and participate in American culture. Many also
felt that only by living among Whites could they learn that
culture. A combination of Indian reform sentiment and
pressure from land hungry farmers, ranchers, and speculators
resulted in the passage of the Dawes Act in 1887 to bring
allotment to western Indians. Allotment itself came four
years later to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. (Mardock, 1971:
Chapter 12; Kinney, 1937.)

The process of forcing allotment on the Cheyenne and
Arapaho was notably corrupt. After bitter negotiations in
1890, an agreement was achieved between the Jerome
Commission (the committee sent by Congress to arrange
allotment) and the Indians, but only because the Cheyenne
who opposed allotment boycotted the final sessions. The
Dawes Act required that 75% of the adult males sign the
agreement before Congress could approve it: Agent Charles
F. Ashley (1889 to 1893) submitted 464 signatures which the
Cheyenne claimed were both too few and largely fraudulent,
but Congress approved the agreement in March of 1891. (For
a full discussion of the corruption surrounding Cheyenne-

Arapaho allotment see Berthrong, 1976: Chapters 6 and 7.)

109

The Cheyenne and Arapaho cession agreement
established that the two tribes would receive $1.5 million
for all their land except their individual allotments. Of
that sum, $500,000 was to be distributed on a per capita
basis: the remaining $1 million was to be held in trust at
5% interest to be distributed annually. Each Indian was
entitled to 160 acres, and parents could select their minor
childrens' lands. All lands were to be selected within
ninety days of the arrival of allotting agents or those
agents would be empowered to assign lands to individuals.
No allotment could be alienated (sold or title in any way
transfrerred except by inheritance of one Indian from
another) for twenty-five years. Once all Cheyenne and
Arapaho had received their allotments, the remaining
reservation land would be opened to White settlement.(26
Stats., 1022, 1025; Congressional Record, 51 Cong., 2 Sess.,
Feb. 28, 1891, 3529.)

The actual allotment process was slowed on the
Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation by the non-cooperation of those
who opposed ceeding the lands. These individuals at first
refused even to enroll on the tribal census, then refused
the first partial payments of the cash, and finally refused
to select lands. The allotting crews began to work in
April, 1891, but when they ran out of operating funds in
September (well over the ninety day limit), 1400 Indians had

still not chosen their lands. The crews resumed work in

110

February, 1892, and assigned lands to all remaining Indians.
By March 29, 1892, the Cheyenne and Arapaho retained 529,692
acres of their original 4,294,415. Of the retained lands,
231,828 acres were reserved for education and 32,343 acres
were held by the military. Thus, the Indians controlled
only about 6% of their original reservation. (Berthrong,
1976: 169-92: CIA, Report, 1892: 81,371.)

Despite attempts by some of the chiefs to delay,
E.F. Weigel, special inspector of the Department of
Interior, opened the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation at 12
o’clock noon, April 19, 1892. Within hours, 25-30,000
settlers invaded the area; the Cheyenne and Arapaho now
constituted about 10% of the population. When the Whites
poured into their lands, the Indians were not scattered on
their allotments. In an effort to avert trouble, the chiefs
had called the people into two large camps where the agent
provided food until the run was over. A few Arapahos did
gather in a remote region to dance the Ghost Dance, trying
to stop the new developments. (Berthrong, 1976: 182-84.)

For the first weeks after allotment, Whites reported
threats of violence from Indians who were apparently trying
to scare off the new settlers, but no real trouble occurred
during the occupation of the reservation. Instead, a
pattern of White harassment of the Indians emerged which
became a permanent feature of their lives: Whites stole

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112

allotments; they illegally taxed Indian property: they
improperly and/or excessively charged for services or
merchandise and then confiscated Indian property to cover
bad debts; they illegally occupied Indian allotments: they
verbally and physically abused and intimidated Indian
people. The Indians were totally unprepared to handle White
cupidity themselves, and the agent, working alone in the
face of the onslaught, could do little but write letters and
appeal for help. (Berthrong, 1976: 184-208. An example of
an agent’s efforts was Woodson to CIA, Jan. 4, 1894, C&A
Letterbooks, Vol. 38: 276-81. OHSIA.)

The Cheyenne-Arapaho experience with allotment
provided important lessons for the Kiowa and Comanche. Even
though the Jerome Commission moved directly to their
reservation in 1892, and imposed an agreement for cession
modelled on the Cheyenne-Arapaho agreement in less than a
month, the Kiowa and Comanche managed to delay actual
allotment until 1900. They did so with the help of their
allies, White ranchers and lawyers (and, later, reform
groups), by lobbying sucessfully to prevent Congressional
ratification of the cession agreement. Each year between
1892 and 1899, delegations travelled to Washington to
testify in hearings--on both pro- and anti-allotment
positions. The case of the anti-allotment groups, however,
was so convincing that White reformers and even the

reservation agents soon supported it. They argued that 160

113

acres were totally inadequate for either farming or ranching
in the area and that the Jerome Agreement should be
renegotiated. The Indian Rights Association appealed for
allotments of 480 acres: the agents also wanted larger
allotments, but they also wanted the remaining land to go to
landless Indians, hoping to avoid the problems the Cheyenne
and Arapaho were having with their White neighbors.
Eventually, even the Secretary of Interior was convinced
that the agreement should be renegotiated. (Hagan, 1976:
201-61; Indian Rights Association Repor , 1899.)

However, by 1899, white pressure was intense to open
the lands. A railroad had been built across the
reservation: large communities ringed it: good lands were
gone on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation. Whites were
illegally on the reservation in large numbers, and problems
with theft, misuse of lands, and general mistreatment of
Indians were endemic. Despite a special Senatorial report
on the reservation that recommended the issuance of one
thousand acres per family, Congress prepared to pass a
revision of the original Jerome Agreement. In 1900, the
final bill, written without consulting the Kiowa and
Comanche , gave each person only 160 acres, but it also set
aside 480,000 acres as common grazing land--the Big Pasture.
The purchase price of the remaining lands was set at
$2,000,000, to be managed as the Cheyenne-Arapaho funds

were. In a special section, the bill gave preference in

114

filing land claims to squatters who had illegally occupied a
part of the nothern section of the reservation since the
Cheyenne-Arapaho run of 1892. (31 U.S. Stats., 676.)

Thus, after eight years of successfully holding off
the inevitable, the Kiowa and Comanche met the new century
having to deal with allotment. Despite the efforts of some
chiefs to legally block allotment, the process began in
July, 1900, and took less than a year. Those Indians who
had already selected lands had them confirmed. Others could
select any but those reserved for education. Following the
settlement pattern established long before allotment, the
Comanches usually lived south of the Wichita Mountains and
the Kiowa lived north of them. (Map 4.) The Big Pasture,
400,000 acres in the south of the reservation, was
immediately leased by the agent to four of the old “grass
lessees.” The other 80,000 acres of the extra reserved land
were also partly leased. In order to try to maintain an
orderly process of White occupation of the excess Indian
lands, the government ordered that the land be disposed of
by lottery. The sales began July 10, 1901, and ran, in
several different locations, until August 6. Only the
barren lands in the Wichita Mountains were not sold.
(Hagan, 1976: 264-71.)

Allotment was supposed to scatter the Indians on
their family farms and result in their finally becoming

agriculturalists. In the first several years after

 

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116

allotment on the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation, no such
effects were visible. As we have already seen, farming
actually declined, and band life was very little affected.
In response to the Indians’ general failure to adopt the
desired lifestyle, Agent Captain A.E. Woodson (1893 to 1899)
issued a set of remarkably stringent edicts to the Indians
and employees of his agency in 1895. Those ”ORDERS"
demonstrate how little impact the civilization program, and
specifically allotment, were having.

First, Woodson commanded that ”to promote the
civilization and progress of the Indians of this Agency, and
to hasten their approach towards...se1f-support,' all camps
were to be broken up within thirty days. Thereafter, no
more than four families could settle together. This was an
official acknowledgement of the standard practice of band
life, still vibrant twenty years after the Red River War.
Second, on pain of loss of rations, all able-bodied males
were to immediately establish residence on their allotments-
-an acknowledgement that most Indian allotments were unused
by their owners. Rations were also be be denied to anyone
”who will not work” or showed ”no disposition to help
themselves or their families,” or to anyone visiting away
from his or her district without permission, evidence of
positive resistance to farming and persistence of widespread
population movement.

Several other edicts went directly to the

117

persistence of distinctly Indian practices. For example,
agents had expressed great difficulty in getting the Indians
to understand the concept of private property, especially
exclusivity of use of tools and equipment. It was common
for Indians to borrow each others’ and agency items without
asking permission and without return. This was henceforth
strictly forbidden. Indians were also enjoined to protect
their own property, primarily from White thieves. Order No.
VIII forbade all plural marriages and required all marriages
to be properly solemnized. Finally, Order No. x banned in
one sweep gambling, the mescal bean (peyote), and ”all the
old-time customs that existed during the reservation system
which served to keep alive superstition and barbarous
practices..." (A.E. Woodson, C&A Indian Agency, May 6,
1895, Record Group #75, Letters Received 1881-1907, BIA, NA.
Copy in OHSIA.) The agency employees were required to
enforce the orders on pain of dismissal.

However, WOodson was never able to markedly
influence the behavior of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, despite
his vigorous efforts. Instead, his activities strengthened
the anti-government faction on the reservation. When he
ended the old practice of ration issue with distribution
handled by band chiefs and instituted a family issue system
as an attack on the power of the headmen, more of those
chiefs and their followers joined the opposition group.

Woodson went on to aggressively oppose peyote and was

118

responsible for the legislation against it in 1897. This
activity, combined with his harshness in attempting to force
culture change, brought even younger, educated Cheyenne and
Arapaho into the anti-agency faction. (Berthrong, 1976:
248-265.)

Thus, by the time allotment was applied to the Kiowa
and Comanche reservation, despite stringent efforts,
relatively little change had taken place among the Cheyenne
and Arapaho in the direction which the White authorities
expected. Despite somewhat greater experiments with farming
and ranching, the Kiowa and Comanche were little changed as
well. But among all four tribes there had been marked
cultural and political developments in response to
reservation conditions. For example, on both reservations
factionalism had emerged: as noted above, the people had
divided into what the agents described as progressive and
conservative groups. By the White definition, progressives
where those who cooperated with the farming programs, placed
their children in schools, and generally supported agency
positions on such politico-economic issues as leasing and
allotment. Progressives might include older chiefs who
believed that further resistance was futile or younger
leaders who accepted the inevitability of the situation and
sought to make the best of it, often seeking personal favor
and advantage. (Quannah Parker is an example of these

younger leaders.) These men would influence their families

119

and bands to also adept the progressive approach. Other
people might become progressives as a result of education in
White schools and/or religious conversion.

Conservatives, on the other hand, were those Indians
who either actively or passively resisted the civilization
program. On the Kiowa-Comanche reservation, resistance was
primarily passive: conservatives withdrew to the more
remote regions of the reservation (the Rainy Mountain area,
and the northwest.), and tried to avoid much contact with
Whites. When action was taken against progressives, it was
usually private social pressure: ostracism or ridicule were
common. When a progressive was particularly offensive in
his advocacy of White policies and beliefs, however, a group
might ask a known witch to kill him. Both students who were
bewitched had been warned to cease their outspoken support
for Christianity in one case and allotment in the other.
(Hagan, 1976: 216-49. Hagan’s emphasis is on allotment
factions.)

On the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation, however, the
conservatives were well-organized and mounted active, often
violent, resistance to White authorities. The old military
societies, which the agents called collectively the Dog
Soldiers, assumed the responsibility of enforcing
traditional lifestyles and opposing any cooperation with
Whites. Just as they had during communal hunts and on war

parties, they punished any who violated their conservative

120

precepts: those who farmed or placed children in schools
could expect Dog Soldiers to destroy their property or
inflict beatings. The Dog Soldiers rigorously policed the
reservation from the late 1870’s through the 1880’s,
compelling attendance at Sun Dances and harrassing
progressives. They took the lead in opposing leasing and
were successful in stopping it, but by the early 1890’s
their power was declining. The agents withheld rations from
resistant bands, and many were hungry. Allotment was
imposed despite their objections. A major leader of the Dog
Soldiers went into hiding and disgrace after raping first an
Indian woman and then a White girl. (Howling Wblf, an ex-
prisoner. See Appendix B and Chapter 6.) Although several
leaders in the Cantonment region, heartland of the
conservatives, remained firm in their resistance until after
1900, the Dog Soldiers were no longer an active force.
Instead, conservatives pursued an approach more like the
passive resistance common among the Kiowa and Comanche, an
approach that was undoubtedly more practical once the
Indians were totally immersed in the new White settlement of
Oklahoma Territory. (Berthrong, 1976: 100-05, 145-46, 249,
265-326.)

At no time were progressives ever a majority on
either reservation. While we cannot say specifically how
many Indians belonged to either faction, substantial

evidence suggests that conservatives were the majority.

121

First, the numbers of Indians choosing to live in known
conservative areas is an indication that most preferred at
least to live away from White influence. The settlements
around the agencies were always smaller than the bands in
the hinterlands. (Berthrong, 1976: 171, map clearly shows
population distribution. Moore, 1980; Kiowa Allottment
Map.) Second, the missionaries were never able to make
serious inroads. Finally, the agents’ constant litany of
complaints about resistance to farming and education and the
persistence of "savage” practices indicate that many of the
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche were uninterested in
becoming ”civilized.” (Agents’ Annual Reports, especially
Woodson, 1893-99, and Randlett, 1900-1903.)

It should also be noted that the distinctions

between progressives and conservatives were political and

economic: their cultural distinctions were often
insignificant. In his "private" life, a progressive was
often indistinguishable from his conservative peers. For

example, the Comanche Tischecoddy noted earlier was a
farmer/rancher and supported leasing the reservation--but he
was never a Christian, he belonged to dance societies and

probably to the peyote religion, and he had three wives.

(Appendix B.) He was representative of many on both
reservations. (Hagan, 1976, does not make this connection
in his discussion of factionalism. Berthrong, 1976,

considers the cultural factor only slightly more.)

122

If the development of factionalism reflected the
strains of adapting to the conditions of reservation life
economically and politically, the emergence of nativistic
religious movements demonstrated the Indians’ attempts to
deal with those strains emotionally and spiritually. Many
continued to turn to the traditional Sun Dances, which the
Cheyenne and Arapaho held regularly and which were visited
by large numbers of Kiowa and Comanche. At the peak of the
strength of the Dog Soldiers (1884-85), however, leading
medicine men announced that their power could stop White
bullets--a notion which they may have learned from the much
more vocal and aggressive prophets among the Kiowa.
Throughout the 1880’s, these preachers argued for a return
to the "old ways,” promising in return to bring back the
buffalo, bring the sun down from the sky, destroy Whites in
a fiery whirlwind, or bring the dead back to life. (These
included Datekan, son of ex-prisoner WOman’s Heart--1881;
Botalye--1881-82; Paingya--1887. Mooney, 1898: 220-22.)
The people responded anxiously to their appeals: in 1881,
hundreds, including a huge delegation of Cheyenne (among
whom were several former prisoners) attended a demonstration
of Datekan’s powers. He produced no buffalo, however,
explaining that the Indians did not believe strongly enough.
Botalye’s medicine also failed, but in 1887, Paingya again
had a following of hundreds. This time, they moved to a

remote area to set up a permanent camp where even matches,

123

symbol of White technology and culture, were forbidden.
White authorities feared that the group would lead a violent
outbreak and prepared to attack the 'camp, but a young
student (Joshua Given, one of the men bewitched for his pro-
White views) intervened. He challenged Paingya to allow the
soldiers to shoot him: he would then rise from the dead on
the third day. Given promised that even the Whites would
acknowledge Paingya then, but the prophet refused, and his
following quickly dissipated. (Mayhall, 1962: 178-179,
262-263: Mooney, 1898: 219-20: Nye, 1962: 342-45: C&A and
Kiowa Indian Dances Files, OHSIA.)

The presence of such prophets and messages in the
South Plains certainly prepared the Indians there to be
receptive to the Ghost Dance of 1890-91, the well-known
revitalistic movement of the Shoshone prophet WOvoka which
swept the Great Plains. But the failures of the previous
prophets also prepared the people to be skeptical. The
religion was brought to the area by the Southern Arapaho
Sitting Bull, and the Arapaho embraced its teachings
enthusiastically, even attempting to halt allotment by
dancing. Despite its apparent failures to bring back the
buffalo and destroy Whites, small groups of Arapaho
continued to dance a version of the Ghost Dance until as
late as 1902. (Mooney, 1896: Trenholm, 1970: 283-286.)

The Ghost Dance’s reception among the other three

tribes was far less enthusiastic, however. The Kiowa at

124

first fervently accepted it, and began to dance almost
constantly, but their receptiveness was short-lived. Chief
Apiatone, brother-in-law of Etahdleuh Doanmoe, went on a
personal mission to Wovoka and returned greatly
disillusioned. He denounced the religion as a fraud, and
its impact quickly faded. The Cheyenne generally withheld
participation until their own delegation returned from a
similar mission: they also denounced vaoka and the Ghost
Dance as fraudulent, and the Cheyenne never adopted it. The
Comanche were apparently never particularly interested:
there were few reports of Comanche dances, and it is
probable that most Comanche by 1890 did not feel the need
for such a religion. They were already participating in a
new, different religion, largely their own creation, which
they, and many others in the South Plains found much more
satisfying. (Only one small band of Penetethka Comanches
danced. Hagan, 1976: 189-92; Mooney, 1896: Mayhall, 1962:
266-67; Kiowa Indian Dances File, OHSIA.)

That religion was peyotism. The use of peyote had
been known among the Comanche for perhaps a hundred years,
but its use as a religious sacrament accompanied by a full,
regularized set of rituals and paraphernalia emerged in
strength in the late 1870’s. From the Comanche it spread to
the Kiowa, and by the 1880’s, to the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
The number of its faithful grew steadily well into the

twentieth century. The religion itself combined elements of

125

the mysticism of earlier Plains religions with explicit
aspects of Christianity, and it found its expression in the
peyote meeting at which the drug was ingested and its
visions sought. The religion, unlike its contemporary
nativistic movements, did not promise an end to reservation
conditions or a return to the past. Its ceremonies, small
in scale and intensely personal, differed sharply from the
large tribal rituals of older religions and the prophets’
movements. Rather, peyotism offered a new "Way” to deal
with present realities, including ethics and rules for
upright living. Its adherents also believed that peyote had
far more than religiously mystical powers: they felt it
could cure illness, prevent or cure alcoholism, and prevent
or cure personality disorders--some of the most serious of
the problems they faced. In short, it could provide the
strength Indian people needed to cope with their harsh
lives. The strength of peyotism had a powerful appeal:
membership crossed not only tribal barriers but factional
ones, as well. Both progressives and conservatives joined
it, and so did many avowed Christians. No membership
figures exist for the nineteenth century--the religion was
clandestine in the face of White opposition--but the agents
considered it such a widespread "problem" that they
successfully lobbied in the Oklahoma legislature to have it
outlawed in 1897. (La Barre, 1938; Slotkin, 1956: Marriott

and Rachlin, 1971.)

126

Thus, the Indian people increasingly turned away
from large scale tribal religious ceremonialism--encouraged
by the opposition of White authorities. The agents sought
to end dances and feasts, believing not only that they
perpetuated ”heathen" beliefs, but that they wasted time and
resources. They applied force to stop Sun Dances--the last
Kiowa Sun Dance was broken up by troops in 1889--and the
agents almost never granted permission for ceremonials.
(Mayhall, 1962: 265: CIA, Report, 1903: 245-46, 253-54.)

But large ceremonials never stopped. Instead, the
Indians danced secretly and increasingly held secular
ceremonials at which they performed dances with little or no
religious meaning. They successfully convinced agents that
these dances were harmless social events during the early
1880’s, and the number of such dances steadily increased.
Dances such as the Cheyenne Willow Dance became more
important, and the people borrowed dances from other tribes:
Omaha Dance Societies emerged on both reservations during
this period. Other dances which had once had specific
purposes, such as buffalo hunting or war magic, were now
danced for entertainment and in competition. (Berthrong,
1976: 217; C&A and Kiowa Indian Dances Files: C&A Passes
File. OHSIA.)

The most important ceremonial development of the
era, however, was the major feast at which many of these

dances were performed--the event the Indians called ”dancing

127

for horses." Dancing for horses was the forerunner of the
modern give-away pow-wow in the Southern Plains. As often
as several times a year, bands or whole tribes visited each
other, sometimes for weeks at a time, to dance, feast, and
receive gifts. The host group provided all food and
shelter, and the gifts--which could include blankets and
household goods, but always included large numbers of
horses. The visits were always reciprocated during the next
dancing season. (Because Whites seldom attended these
feasts, it is not possible to describe them from archival
records. Additional research is needed to completely
describe and analyze them. Agents were fully aware of them,
however. Correspondence, KA 39 and 40, Kiowa Foreign
Relations, OHSIA. Astonishingly, neither Berthrong nor
Hagan mentions dancing for horses.)

During the 1890’s, dancing for horses reached what
the agents called a ”frenzy." The Kiowas, Cheyennes, and
Comanches were exchanging frequent visits in groups
numbering in the hundreds. In 1891, the Cheyenne agent
justified giving permission for two hundred Cheyenne to go
to the Kiowa reservation by noting that they had taken
allotments and would be a good influence on their hosts.
(Ashley to Myers, KA 39, Passes, 9/4/91, OHSIA. Among them
were several prominent ex-prisoners.) By mid-decade, the
numbers were exceeding five hundred per visit, and the

agents began to try to stop the practice. Their objections

128

were not so much to the actual dancing, but to the results
of the events: huge numbers of Indians missed planting or
harvest, and crops failed: entire sections of the Indian
lands were left vacant for weeks at a time, inviting theft
or vandalism; the feasts ”impoverished” bands because of the
expense of the food and gifts. (Ashley to Adams, 7/15/91,
9/23/91: Woodson to Nichols, 8/221/94--KA 39, Kiowa Foreign
Relations. Ashley to Day, 7/6/92: Woodson to Nichols,
8/24/94: other correspondence--KA 40, Kiowa Passes, Letters
Received, OHSIA.)

In 1896, after the Cheyenne and Kiowa exchanged
visits, agency police rounded up all the gift ponies and
sent them back to their respective reservations. Neither
the Cheyenne nor the Kiowa would accept them. William
Little Chief, an ex-prisoner and former student by now
recognized as an important progressive leader, spoke for the
Cheyenne. He said that to take back the ponies would
disgrace them and cause hard feelings with the Kiowa.
(Woodson to Baldwin, 7/3/96: 7/20/96--KA 39, Kiowa Foreign
Relations, Letters Received. OHSIA.) Instead, they
authorized the agents to sell the ponies and use the money
to buy cattle for their children--but they begged that the
horses be taken back to the Kiowa.

Neither agent ever got his Indians to take back
horses, and dancing for horses continued unabated--now with

official active disapproval. In 1899, Cheyenne-Arapaho

129

agent WOodson notified the Kiowa-Comanche agent that
Cheyenne were dancing on the Kiowa reservation. He asked
Agent Randlett to take ”immediate steps to drive them off
your reservation." (ll/18/99, KA 39, Kiowa Foreign
Relations, Letters Received, OHSIA.) Despite repeated
efforts to use force to prevent dances, the Indian people
continued. By the early twentieth century, the hosts were
receiving guests from more than one tribe at a time, and
Indians from outside the immediate area participated,
especially the Pawnee. By this time, dancing for horses was
an annual mid-summer event, and as late as 1919, the agents
were still warning each other of impending invasions and
attempting to block the feasts. (C&A Indian Dances File,
August, 1919.)

Dancing for horses, therefore, replaced or
supplemented traditional tribal ceremonies which had
provided the occasions for expressing group solidarity.
Through its creative use of apparently outmoded dances and
reciprocal gift giving, it not only gave the people a tie to
their heritage but it also strengthened their ties among
themselves. Most significantly, this new feast ignored
tribal boundaries and recognized the commonality of
experience of the Indians of the South Plains.

Thus, in many aspects of their lives including
subsistence, dress, religion, and public ceremonies, the

Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche created nearly

130

identical lifstyles and institutions--and some common
institutions--between the late 1870’s and the early
twentieth century. They maintained separate and vibrant
tribal identities: honoring traditional leaders, speaking
their original languages, preserving a variety of stylistic
differences, and respecting long-standing kinship and
marriage customs: but they also developed a pan-tribal
culture, of which these tribes became essentially sub-
cultures.

By the early twentieth century, that larger culture
encompassed a number of clearly identifiable traits. Its
economy was based on income derived primarily from rents--
nearly all Indians leased most of their allotments. This
income was supplemented on a small scale by gardening and
seasonal wage work. Few Indians could be said to have been
either gainfully employed or "self-supporting," in White
terms. Annual income was very small, averaging about $150
per household. (Berthrong, 1976: 296-340; Hagan, 1976:
287. Hagan estimates Comanche income at about $400,
including wage work, an overestimate for most. If land was
not leased, income could be well below $100 per year.)

The people lived clustered on their allotments in
band groups. An extended family or several related families
might live on one allotment, the remaining land being
leased. A number of such groups constituted a band, which

occupied an identified region of allotments. As late as

131

1910-12, thirty percent of the people in conservative areas
were still reported to be living in tents, rather than
houses, but the trend was towards single family houses.
This trend was encouraged by construction assistance
provided by the government, especially after about 1920.
(Annual Reports, 1910, 1911, 1912, C&A and Kiowa Agents
Files: C&A and Kiowa Indian Houses Files, especially undated
description of modern houses, ca. 1925. OHSIA. Moore,
1980.)

Two-thirds to three-quarters of all children
attended government sponsored boarding schools, but most
adults did not use English in normal activities. Christian
church membership remained small, although small Indian
congregations did exist. Most Indian people dressed in
White style with the addition of Indian elements such as
mocassins, blankets, or dance shawls (a White fashion
incorporated as an essential part of women’s ceremonial
attire.) (Berthrong, 1976: 296-340: Hagan, 1976: 287:
Agents’ Reports, 1900-1912, OHSIA.)

Since their time was not consumed by jobs, the
people (adults) were free to devote large amounts of time to
visiting and ceremonialism--for many, these were dominant
activities. Participation in ceremonies, dancing for
horses, and various adult societies remained strong. The
peyote religion was also strong, and it received a

tremendous stimulus when the courts ruled that the law

132

forbidding the use of peyote was unconstitutional.
(Territory pf Oklahoma v. Howling Wolf, Reuben Taylor, 32g
ggpgy KableI 1907. In the original law, peyote was
described as ”mescal beans," which the judge held was an
illegal class legislation. See also Berthrong, 1976: 317-
24.) Native curers were still preferred, but fewer of them
remained.

Despite the disappearance of the generations who
remembered the old buffalo hunting days, the people of the
old South Plains alliance remained distinctly Indian--if not
the same sort of Indian they had once been. They had
acculturated to some degree, mostly in technological and
material areas which provided more comfortable lives or
replaced vanished items--housing, dress, food and food
preparation. But they had not, for the most part, accepted
those elements of White culture which Whites considered most
important: Christianity and farming. Instead, they had
achieved a region-wide adaptation to their changed
situation, which, despite White pressure to the contrary ,
built on old traditions and current facts in a creative new
way.

It should not be surprising that this new regional
culture, with its tribal sub-cultures, emerged. First,
despite the authorities best efforts, White power to coerce
change in a desired direction was quite weak. The agencies

had very small staffs, the Indian police usually declined to

133

take action against their peers, and the threat of military
force was not realistic for any but major disturbances. The
agents’ main weapon, the denial of rations and annuities,
could cause hardship, but its usual impact was to harden
resistance as the people turned to their relatives and peers
for support. The agents were, therefore, left to rely on
example and persuasion to achieve results. Until allotment,
Indians could withdraw from the agencies and largely avoid
contact with Whites except for essential rationing. Even
after allotment, despite the overwhelming presence of Whites
everywhere in their territory, the Indians could, albeit to
a smaller extent and in smaller numbers, still find areas
within the allotted lands where they could live largely as
they wanted. They were relatively free, then, both during
and after the reservation period to adapt as they chose.

The inability of Whites to force change helps to
explain the failure of the Indians to abandon their old
cultures and their ability to change in their own ways, but
it does not explain the changes which did take place nor the
uniformity of the regional pattern. The explanations for
these lie in the common heritage of the four tribes, their
continued intense communication during the reservation
period, and the uniformity of reservation conditions. It
has already been shown that the people of the four tribes
shared the exploitation and defense of the South Plains for

at least thirty years before the reservation period. Their

134

economies were nearly identical, and although they did
differ in social organization, language, and religion, they
were thoroughly familiar with each others’ customs and
participated in each others’ ceremonials. During the
intense warfare of the 1850’s, -60’s, and -70’s, the people
became even closer, despite differences over tactics and
strategy. (See Chapter 2.)

Once the Indians were enclosed on their
reservations, their contact did not stop. Their
reservations, shared by the Cheyenne and Arapaho and by the
Kiowa and Comanche, were contiguous, and the bands embarked
on nearly continuous visiting--without reference to
reservation boundaries. The long periods of inactivity
which especially the men now experienced encouraged the
practice, and by the 1880’s, the tribes were probably in
more contact with one another than they had ever been before
the reservation. Even greater sharing of ideas and customs
was a logical outcome.

The visiting groups found that conditions on the two
reservations were nearly identical. Agents applied the
uniform federal Indian policy. The geography and
environment were the same. Choosing from a limited range of
options, similar peoples responded to the same situation
with similar adaptations. Their continuing close
relationship helped to further 'homogenize' those

adaptations.

135

Finally, few benefits accrued to Indians who
attempted ”The White Man’s Road.” During the early
reservation years, such Indians could expect at the least
ostracism or ridicule--at the most, physical abuse or even
death--from their peers. In return for their efforts, they
received very hard work, failed crops, and destroyed kinship
and band ties. In short, they sacrificed the support of
their community for a life no better materially, and much
harder physically, than those of their peers. Since the
original aspects of their cultures were either no longer
possible or no longer helpful, the people essentially
created a new culture appropriate to their new situation,
building on their older traditions and borrowing,
occassionally, from Whites.

The Fort Marion prisoners returned to their people
just as these changes began, and many of them lived well
into the twentieth century. In the next chapter, we will
see how those who did not go with Pratt to school
participated in the changing culture/s of the South Plains
and how they applied the lessons of Fort Marion to that

experience.

136

Chapter 5

The Older Warriors

In 1881, R.H. Pratt wrote "To the Friends of Indian
Education” seeking support for his outing system at Carlisle
Indian Industrial School. In defense of his methods, he
cited the "Americanization" of his former Fort Marion

prisoners.
"The contact of peoples is the best of all education.”

Through this principle foreign emigrants speedily
become American. Denied this means, our Indians
have failed of Americanizing for three centuries.
Governed by this law, every possible chance was
given to the prisoners in the old Fort at St.
Augustine, during their three years imprisonment.
There were no failures there. Every one of those
hardened leaders became, in some measure,
reconstructed to an industrious producing basis of
thought and action, and they are today reported to
be about the only exceptions to savage life and
superstition among their tribes. (Mrs. Pratt’s
Scrapbooks, PP.)

The purpose of this discussion will be to determine
if, in fact, the prisoners who returned directly to Indian
Territory (without benefit of additional education) actually

were profoundly changed by their Fort Marion experience--

whether they became examples of civilized life to their

137

reservation peers. In order to understand and identify Fort
Marion’s impact, and to analyze the roles of the innovative
leaders (if any), the lives of the ex-prisoners will be
traced and placed in the context of the historical/cultural
developments of their reservations. It will be shown that
the men generally were influenced by Pratt and Fort Marion,
but often not entirely in the ways Pratt hoped. As well,
the circumstances of their reservations set limits on ways
the men could express those influences, and for most of
their lives, they lived largely as their peers did.

Certainly, at the time of their release in 1878,
Pratt expected the returnees not only to live upright,
enlightened lives but to lead their people on the White
Man’s Road. As early as 1876, he wrote that he would
continue to work with them, pending their release. He
understood that:

They are to be returned “in a body to form the
nucleus for the organization of their tribe”...If,
sustained in what they have attained and carried
ahead by authority, their people will try to rise to
them instead of their dropping back. (Pratt to Gen.
W.T. Sherman, 5/1/76 in Pratt, 1964: 174.)

Apparently, some of the prisoners shared Pratt’s
expectations. In their appeal for release in 1877, Making
Medicine (spokesman for the young men) and Minimic
(spokesman for the older men) both recounted all they had

learned at Fort Marion and promised to continue to learn and

to work hard, and to teach their children the new ways.

138

(Pratt, 1964: 178.) Whether the men would meet Pratt’s or
their own expectations remained to be seen.

After a lengthy journey from Florida--by boat to
Hampton, Virginia, by train to Kansas, and then wagon to
Fort Sill and the Indian agencies--the ex-prisoners arrived
home. (Agency records indicate thirty-five men returned in
1878. These are included in Table 3. At least ten died at
Fort Marion: five are unaccounted for. The Cheyenne woman
Mochi and the Comanche woman Peahni, like most Indian women,
were not discussed directly in the records, with the
exception of some censuses, and they are not included in the
analysis. See also Appendix B.) The thirteen Cheyennes and
two Arapahos were led by the only surviving Cheyenne chief,
Minimic, and his son Howling WOlf. Agent J.D. Miles
received them at Darlington April 28, 1878, and he wrote
Pratt immediately commenting on the profound changes he saw
in his group.

although I had made up my mind to see a great

reformation in them, yet I was never more surprised,
and that agreeably, too, to see such a complete,
radical, and thorough reformation--I could scarcely
believe I was in the presence and company of the men
whom I saw three years ago leave this agency and
country i5 chains and with hearts full of revenge
and hatred...good results will accrue to the whole
Cheyenne tribe through those whom you have returned
to us. (Miles to Pratt, 5/23/78, LR, PP.)
Agent P.B. Hunt’s nineteen Kiowas and Comanches

reached Anadarko May 1. In his report of their arrival,

Hunt sounded surprised as he noted his pleasure at their

139

"condition": i.e., their dress and demeanor: "A thorough
reformation in every particular." He commented that he
hoped good would come of their return, and he expected the
ex-prisoners to be useful in the teaching work on the
reservation. (Hunt to Hayt, CIA, 5/2/78, RA 7, LS, Vol. 5,
OHSIA.)

The returning prisoners were thus greeted with
praise at their changed appearance and manners and with
predictions of good works. Both agents immediately tried to
provide support to the returnees so that they could/would
maintain their new lifestyles. Pratt had specifically urged
that the ex-prisoners be provided with employment and that
their families be involved in the civilization effort
through education and jobs, ”else much labor is lost."
(Pratt, 1964: 178.) Both agents did their best to comply.

Miles hired most of the Cheyennes at the Darlington
agency, effectively turning over nearly all agency
employment to the ex-prisoners, and placing them in a highly
favored position. The first Indian police force at the
Cheyenne-Arapaho agency was composed of twelve returned

Cheyenne prisoners, captained by Little Medicine, with Star

as Sergeant. (Another five men were reservation Arapahos.
C&A Indian Police File, 1878, OHSIA. C&A Indian Police,
1878, NA.) Four ex-prisoners were also employed as

laborers, a mill hand, and stone quarrier. (CsA Employees,

1878, OHSIA.) Minimic began a wood cutting and hauling

140

business, whose only customers were the agency and school,
in which his son also worked, (Minimic to Pratt, 10/26/78,
PP: Pratt, 1964: 165.) and Howling Wblf also worked as a
school aide. (Miles, Annual Report, 1878.) The entire
group were thus provided with jobs that assured at least a
modest income, required that they live near the agency , and
offered a measure of higher status, especially from a White
perspective. Miles apparently missed the irony of
appointing the ex—prisoners (so recently considered savage
and recalcitrant) as police expected to supervise their
fellow Cheyennes.

At Anadarko, Agent Hunt did not promptly hire his
returnees, except for Pautausape whom he put to work as a
watchman, and Aulih, who was a laborer. (Kiowa Employees
File, 1878, OHSIA.) Instead, he sought to encourage
”civilized” pursuits more directly in keeping with
government policy: he tried to get them to farm. In late
May, he wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs asking
permission to expand the area of plowed land on the
reservation because the returned prisoners needed the
acreage for their farms. (Hunt to Hayt, CIA, Monthly
Report, May, 1878, RA 7, LS, Vo1. 5, OHSIA.) He also put
the agency carpenters to work building houses for five ex-
prisoners. (Hunt to Miss S.H. Mather, 2/17/80, KA 9, Vol.
8, LS, OHSIA.)

Early in 1879, Agent Hunt wrote to Pratt describing

141

the returned Kiowas and Comanches and listing the returned
prisoners who were "doing well": Pautausape was working at
the agency and wanted a house; Wohaw was attending the
agency school: Black Horse had plowed and fenced a field,
had a child in school, and also wanted a house. Six others
were also "worthy of assistance," all of them apparently now
serving on the police force. (Taneti was Sergeant of the
force.) Hunt stressed that to stay on their "progressive
path” all of these needed continued help. (Hunt to Pratt,
2/12/79, RA 8, Vol. 7, LS, OHSIA.)

Through 1879, Hunt employed only nine of his
nineteen returnees, in contrast to Miles’ employment or
subsidization of nearly all of his. (Kiowa Employees and
Police Files, 1879, OHSIA.) By 1880, only Pautausape
(laborer) and Quoyouh (policeman) remained on the payrolls,
although as many as seven were farming near Anardako.
(Etahdleuh to Pratt, 9/14/82, in Petersen, 1971: 152-53.)
The failure of many of the Kiowa and Comanche ex-prisoners
to stay on the White Man’s Road, at least in terms of
visible employment, seemed to fulfill the prediction which
Gen. J.W. Davidson of Fort Sill had made in July, 1878. He
noted that while their immediate influence among their peers
appeared good (i.e., leading to civilization), that it
really did not amount to much. As their reservation
tribesmen had been learning farming and household skills,

these men had learned little of real use:

142

The St. Augustine Indians can write a few words,
sing a hymn or two, but are wanting in a knowledge
of the industrial pursuits of life-- [To compound
the problem,] no provision was made...for their
1iving...beyond the issue of rations. The
consequence is, they find the larger number of their
tribal associates far better off than they are, and
it would not be strange if they lapsed into their
former savage ways of life. The educational and
civilizing opportunities afforded them are not of
that character to profit them permanently and
substantially among their associates. (Davidson to
Asst. Adjutant General, 7/22/78, Kiowa Indian
Improvement File, OHSIA.)

In other words, once back among their uncivilized
friends and relatives, the meagre skills these men had
learned, and the minimal chance to suceed offered them by
White authorities would soon lead them to see their 'old'
ways superior.

Apparently, about half the returning Kiowas and
Comanches lapsed ”into their former savage ways” almost
immediately. Woman’s Heart, the old chief who had been
released early at Pratt’s urging (Pratt thought he was
dying), was perhaps the most visible example. In April,
1879, he actually led a war party off the reservation to
avenge the death of a Kiowa man killed by Texas rangers.
(Hunt to CIA, 4/16/79, 4/17/79, RA 8, V01. 7, LS, OHSIA.)
With the other older war chief ex-prisoner White Horse
(instrumental in the Kiowa escape attempt), Woman’s Heart
was emerging as leader of a vigorous anti-White group on the

reservation. His son was soon to announce his mission as a

nativist prophet. The third old war chief, Lone WOlf,

143

disappeared from the agency soon after his return and went
to live among the resistant Kiowas near Mount Scott. He
died there in 1879, and was buried secretly to avoid White
attention. (Corwin, 1958: 163-80.)

Of the warriors who did not participate in Hunt’s
farming or employment efforts, two probably died in 1878-79;
no mention was ever made of them in agency records. The
others chose to return to their old bands. In January,
1880, Hunt wrote a discouraged response to Pratt’s request
to send home some of the "Florida Boys" who had chosen to
attend school. Despite his efforts to employ the returnees,
and the fact that he had built houses for several of them,
he ”hardly knew what to say" about their return. He had
"found they would fall back." Although he was willing to
try to help them, and to employ them at the agency, he was
not optimistic. ”Most of those who came in 1878 went back
to the blanket.” (Hunt to Pratt, 1/13/80, KA 9, Vbl. 8, LS,
OHSIA.) General Davidson’s prediction had apparently come
true.

At Darlington, affairs progressed somewhat
differently: although the eventual outcome was similar, the
development took longer. In his annual report for 1878,
Miles wrote glowingly of the impact the returned Cheyennes

were having:

The return of these people has had a good effect

144

and has stimulated afresh the desire the Indians
have manifested to engage in the pursuits of
civilized life.

As an example, he cited the work of Howling Wolf,
who had convinced "more than twenty of his friends and
relations [to adopt] the dress, habits, and ways of the
whites..." Miles went so far as to declare that ”the policy
of restoring them to their tribes has proved a success.”
(Miles, Annual Report, 1878: 55.) Besides working at the
agency, the men attended church, sent their children to
school, and spoke out in favor of the White Man’s Road. The
old chief Minimic was especially active. The only apparent
lapse came when one younger warrior danced in the July Sun
Dance, explaining that he had pledged to do so before his
departure in 1875. (Berthrong, 1976: 81.) The commandant
at Fort Reno joined in the praise, announcing that the
changes among these Cheyennes were permanent and that their
influence was ”highly beneficial.” (Hayt to Hunt, 9/29/78,
Kiowa Indian Improvement File, OHSIA.)

Only one voice cautioned that the Cheyenne, too,
might not maintain this wonderful transformation. Major
J.K. Mizner, who also served at Fort Reno, believed that the
men genuinely wanted to live as they had at Fort Marion, but
reservation conditions would force them back to ”camp life."
There was too little chance to use their new skills, no
houses, and only limited clothing. (Berthrong, 1976: 81.)

Despite the hardships, many of the Cheyenne

145

returnees tried to live up to Miles’ praise. Minimic and
his band were the progressive leaders working hard at the
wood supply business. Minimic wrote Pratt in 1880:
For two winters I have been chopping wood. This
is the road the agent gave me--He said it would be
better for me than to raise corn. I have chopped
wood for the soldiers and am now chopping for the
Agent--and all my people--thirty lodges--are working
with me. (1/26/80, PP.)
Minimic wrote Pratt frequently, and Pratt published

some of the letters as signs of Indian progress. (For

example, Minimic to Pratt, 1/24/79, Southern WOrkman, VIII,

 

No. 3, March 1879: 31. This was the newspaper of the
Hampton Institute, where the Florida Boys went after their
release from Fort Marion.)

Minimic’s son Howling WOlf was identified as the
most progressive of the younger Cheyenne returnees. He had
gone to work at the agency school as a butcher, moderator
(disciplinarian), and general assistant: he was also a
reservation policeman. He, his wife, and daughter moved
into the school, and Miles reported they were "boldly on the
side of reform." (Miles to Pratt, 5/23/78, PP.) He spoke
often at church and at school where he strongly advocated
the White Man’s Road. In 1879, Howling WOlf moved back to
camp, but only because he had chosen to try to farm. Miles
rewarded his good behavior by allowing him to visit another
tribe in April, 1879. (Petersen, 1968: 6-7.)

Yet, the same year, Howling WOlf dictated a letter

146

to Pratt which revealed a growing ambivalence about his
life. Howling Wolf felt himself to be poor because the
Northern Cheyenne had stolen all his horses in their
breakout in 1878, and he discussed his ideas for rectifying

his poverty and for a good life.

You gave me the white man’s road and it is very
good. At the fort you gave us cloths but we have
bin here one year and they are about all gon...
When I hunted the buffalo I was not poor: when I was
with you I did not want for eney thing but here I am
Poor. I would like to go out on the planes again
whare I could rome at will and not come back
again...[If he could go to Mexico to catch wild
horses, then he would not be poor.] Bare Shield,
Manimak, Little Medison, and my self have no wagon.
I would like to have you talk to Washiton and find
out why those tha ware white man’s cloths do not get
wagons first. The Solder Chief plowed my field for
me. That made my hart feal good and caused me to
recomend the White Man’s road to the Indin...My
father is cutting wood while I am looking at my
corn... The White Man that has the school in charge
is like my brother. Tomorrow I will kill my Beaf,
then will call the cheafs in to my lodg and have a
talk and made a road. I think the Trader does not
doe right as we don’t get as much for five cents as
I did in the states. (Howling WOlf to Pratt,
6/5/79, PP. See also Petersen, 1968: 7-8.)

Clearly, despite his attempts to farm, and his
avowals of the White Man’s Road, Howling Wo1f was unhappy.
His clothes were wearing out and the government did not
replace them. He was not adequately rewarded for his
efforts toward civilization: less progressive Indians
received their wagons before he did. He felt cheated by

agents and traders. He was also nostalgic for the old free

life, which was richer than his present one. He had resumed

147

living in a tipi, and was about to stage a traditional feast
and ”talk” among the chiefs to plan their next actions.
Howling Wolf, son of the most progressive Cheyenne, was
wavering between the old and the new roads. Despite all his
efforts, the rewards from his new life did not--could not,
under reservation conditions including shortages of rations,
unscrupulous traders, and general hardship--meet the
standards he had been led to expect by his Fort Marion
experience.

Like Howling Wolf, the other Cheyenne returnees
tried to stay on the White Man’s Road, despite the problems.
They were aided by Miles’ employment policies. Through 1879
and 1880, ten worked either as agency employees (fireman,
mill hand, laborer, teamster) or as policemen (six.) (CsA
Employees and Police Files, 1879, 1880, OHSIA.) In

September, 1880, The Cheyenne Transporter, the reservation

 

newspaper, reported that Bear Shield was becoming a stock
raiser. (9/10/80, OHSIA.) At the end of 1880, only
Cometsevah (who probably died in 1879) and Long Back were
not among those pursuing the progressive trail. Long Back
died about 1884, having never worked for the agency. In
1878, Pratt had argued against his release, describing him
as a "bad Indian." (See Appendix B: Pratt to Adjutant
General, 12/4/78, NA, WD, AGO, APC File 6238, 1878.)

Long Back was the only Cheyenne or Arapaho ex-

prisoner who immediately rejected civilization--or at least

148

employment--but the numbers of those employed at the agency
steadily declined from 1880 until 1884. Old Minimic died in
the spring of 1881, leaving his large progressive group
under the leadership of the increasingly disillusioned
Howling Wolf. (Cheyenne Transporter, 5/25/81, OHSIA.) Ten
of the men remained policemen until 1881, when the force was
reduced. In 1882 Miles fired the entire force, and started
over, unsatisfied with the performance of the original
group. (C&A Police Files, 1880, 1881, 1882, OHSIA.) In
1881-82, most of the men worked as laborers to substitute
for their lost police income, but that work offered none of
the status of police work (uniforms, weapons, horses), and
by 1882, only five men (Buffalo Meat, Star, Chief Killer,
Left Hand, and Packer) remained on the agency payrolls.
(C&A Employees Files, 1881, 1882, OHSIA.)

In 1884, Miles had to fire even these loyal workers
for lack of funds. He wrote Pratt a warning about the
future of the returned prisoners--and the returning young
scholars--in which he said that the men were ”mystified” by
their dismissal because they could see that their work was
clearly needed. Now they spoke of the betrayal of the
government which had promised to help them live properly:
“the government has gone back on us." They left the agency
and went out to the band camps ”brooding” over the unfair
treatment they had received. Miles believed that now their

influence would be used against White authorities, rather

149

than in leading their people toward civilization. (Miles to
Pratt, 2/16/84, PP.)

He was right, and he already had other examples of
ex-prisoners who had abandoned their efforts at civilized
life and had turned toward the old ways. Little Medicine,
after leading the reservation police force until his
dismissal in 1882, left the Block Band (the large leaderless
group camped at Darlington--most were somehow associated
with the agency), and he moved to the conservative area of
the reservation near Cantonment. There he resumed his
membership in one of the warrior societies, whom the agents
classed together as the Dog Soldiers, and rapidly moved into
a position of leadership. By 1884, he was a band head. As
early as 1881, he had two wives, and he sent none of his
children to school. (”Little Medicine,” Appendix B.)

At the same time, Howling WOlf rejected the White
Man’s Road. In 1881, Miles wrote to Pratt that he was ”as
uncivilized, but not as hostile, as he ever was.”
(Petersen, 1968: 6.) In 1882, Pratt’s son Mason visited
Darlington and wrote that Howling WOlf "Dresses as an Indian
and is just as much an one as any of them, he has forgotten
all his English, does nothing.” (Mason Pratt to R.H. Pratt,
7/10/1882, PP.) By 1884, he began to share the leadership
of the Dog Soldiers with Little Medicine. (“Howling Wo1f,”
Appendix B.)

Nearly all the rest of the Cheyenne and Arapaho

150

former prisoners abandoned Darlington, going out among the
conservative bands head-quartered near Cantonment. In the
mid-1880’s, most did join the freighters hauling goods for
the agency, an occassional occupation not requiring other
aspects of civilized life. They resumed full participation
in traditional culture: nine of the twelve had two or more
wives by the mid-1880’s, a practice particularly discouraged
by White authorities. (See Table 1.) Many attended dances
and ceremonials: Little Chief (a returned student) led the
delegation of Cheyennes, which included several other ex-
prisoners, to observe the work of the Kiowa buffalo prophet
in 1880 and 1881 (E.L. Clark to Hunt, 7/14/81, Kiowa
Celebrations and Dances File, OHSIA.), and we may assume
that, living in the region dominated by Dog Soldiers, (now
actually led by two ex-prisoners) most of them attended Sun
Dances. Certainly by the standards of Whites, nearly the
entire group could be said to have ”gone back to the
blanket.”

Only Buffalo Meat, Left Hand, and Star tried to
maintain regular employment at the agency after 1884, and
when that seemed impossible, Left Hand and Star joined the
U.S. Army as scouts. (C&A Employees Files, 1884-1891,
including scouts subsection, OHSIA.) The rest lived from
their annuities and rations among their kin and friends, as
most of the Kiowa and Comanche returnees had done early in

the 1800’s. They would continue to do so until allotment in
1891. (CsA Issues, Census, 1884-1891, OHSIA.)

151

Thus, the Cheyennes were more unanimous in their
early attempts to adhere to the White Man’s Road, and slower
to abandon them, than the Kiowa and Comanche ex-prisoners.
The reasons for their greater early enthusiasm for
civilization lay in Pratt’s treatment of them at Fort
Marion, the differing circumstances on the two reservations,
and the different age/leadership structure of the two
returning groups. First, it should be remembered that Pratt
generally gave preferred treatment to the Cheyenne prisoners
at Fort Marion. He believed that most of the men had been
unjustly chosen for punishment and therefore should be given
relatively more kindness and opportunities. (Pratt to
Miles, 1/3/76, C&A Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.) He was
also very fond of Minimic and showered him with special
privileges. Howling Wolf received close attention for an
eye disease and was even sent to Boston for treatment,
returning dressed as a dandy with blue spectacles.
(Petersen, 1968: 2.)

On the other hand, Pratt himself had chosen the
Kiowa and Comanche prisoners and believed they fully
deserved punishment. His generally negative feelings were
more than confirmed by the Kiowa escape attempt, for which
several older Kiowa (especially White Horse and Wyako) were
severely punished. Those Kiowa and Comanche who cooperated
with Pratt were rewarded with privileges and attention, but

those who did not were treated coldly. It is not surprising

152

that the Cheyennes returned to Indian Territory more willing
to cooperate with White authorities, especially since Agent
Miles was a close personal friend of Pratt.

Miles’ friendship with Pratt contributed to the
differences in circumstances on the two reservations. He
made every effort to provide the returnees with support,
specifically with jobs for which the men were somewhat
prepared by the Fort Marion experiences. Having done a
variety of laboring tasks, including serving in the fort
militia, they were ready for the agency employment Miles
offered. Agent Hunt, on the other hand, offered fewer such
jobs, opting instead to try to produce farmers.

Agent Hunt did offer some appropriate jobs, however.
His efforts were undoubtedly thwarted more by the character
of his ex-prisoners (at least initially) than by the work he
could give them. The returning Kiowas, especially, were led
by the three old war chiefs: White Horse, WOman’s Heart,
and Lone WOlf. These men had been prominent hostile leaders
before Fort Marion, had organized the escape attempt, and
returned to Indian Territory unreconstructed. They, and
some of their warriors, left Anadarko immediately to resume
anti-White activities. (The Comanche chief Black Horse did
not join them.) By contrast, none of the more hostile
Cheyenne chiefs survived Fort Marion, and Minimic had been
part of the Cheyenne peace faction before the Red River War.

At Fort Marion, he repeatedly spoke for cooperation with

153

Whites, and as we have seen, worked hard at promoting White-
approved lifestyles on his return. ("Minimic,'l Appendix B.)
It should also be noted that most of those younger Kiowa and
Comanche who cooperated with Pratt at Fort Marion did not
return in 1878, having chosen to stay in the east for
further schooling. Several of the younger cooperative
Cheyennes elected to return immediately to Indian Territory,
notably Howling Wolf, Buffalo Meat, and Star.

By the mid-1880’s, then, most of the returned
Cheyennes had abandoned their early efforts at civilization.
They were frustrated and antagonized by the problems they
had faced in trying to live up to Pratt’s expectations: too
few rations, too few appropriate jobs, generally inadequate
support and rewards. Their disillusionment coincided with
the emergence on the reservation of the violently anti-White
Dog Soldiers, and like most of their peers, most of them at
least sympathized with the Dog Soldiers’ aims and moved to
their area of the reservation. ~It is a remarkable
indication of the depth of the revulsion felt by the
returned Cheyennes that two of the surviving twelve were
leaders of the resistance movement, both of them previous
avid supporters of the White Man’s Road. (CsA Census, 1884-
87, OHSIA.)

The mid-1880’s found the Kiowas and Comanches living
somewhat differently--certainly not as members or leaders of

a violently anti-White movement. At least half of these had

154

not tried the civilized lifestyle, but the other half had
begun farming in the late 1870’s. While the full range of
their activities until 1885 is not known, it is clear that
the Comanche and Kiowa ex-prisoners did not experience the
Cheyenne enthusiasm-disillusionment pattern. Although their
reservation was witnessing the emergence of nativistic
religious movements, it did not have an anti-White
political/cultural faction at all like the Dog Soldiers.
Without the Cheyenne tradition of strong central
organization, those who chose not to cooperate generally
simply withdrew in small groups from areas of White
influence. The reservation did have a small, but active,
mostly Comanche progressive faction. The Kiowa and Comanche
returnees therefore found themselves in a somewhat more
flexible cultural situation. Unlike their Cheyenne peers,
they did not have to choose total rejection of all things
White, and they could, within certain limits, begin to
experiment with certain aspects of civilization. What some
of them tried was farming.

The Comanche chief Black Horse began his small farm
immediately on his return in 1878, and with the agent’s
help, he expanded it during the 1880’s. The other ex-
prisoners lived mostly from their annuities and rations
until the mid-1880’s, when they, too, slightly expanded
their farms. In fact, five of the six Kiowas who survived

until 1890 had farms in that year--all within a small

155

community along Hog Creek near Anardarko. All had been
listed as "doing well" in 1879, and their farms were in the
”Government field" originally plowed for them in 1879-80.
(All farming Kiowa had their plots there. Hunt, Annual
Report, 1885: 318.) The Kiowa ex-prisoners were led by the
old chief Taneti in their new endeavor. Black Horse was
joined by the Comanches Tischecoddy and Quoyouh: only one of
the surviving six Comanches (Wyako) was not reported as
having broken at least a few acres, but even he accepted
such agricultural issues as a plow in 1887. (Wm. Wyatt,
Report,6/28/90, Kiowa Farmers File; Kiowa Issues. OHSIA.)
What produced this interest in farming?

First, the old Kiowa war chief Woman’s Heart died
early in the decade and White Horse was aging. The only
active Fort Marion chiefs were farming, and Black Horse was
quite successful. The agency blacksmith made brands for his
herds of cattle in 1881 and 1882, and his plowed acreage
steadily increased. By 1890, Black Horse had sixty acres
fenced and thirty—five cultivated, when the average Indian
farm was less than five acres. ("Black Horse,” Appendix B.)

Second, the Kiowa and Comanche agents made it clear
to those who would listen that allotment was inevitable.
They offered extensive services to any who would begin their
farms in anticipation of allotment, including plowing
fields, erecting fences, providing tools, and seeds, and,

through the farmers, giving instruction. In addition, the

156

agents provided help in building houses and barns, and in
obtaining White laborers or sharecroppers to work on the
farms. (See Chapter Four.) Those Indians who took
advantage of this assistance could expect a higher standard
of living and favored treatment at the agency, especially in
the form of reduced harassment about their ”Indian”
behavior. Since some of these men, including Black Horse,
had more than one wife and all lived a version of ”camp
life,” this special treatment could be very helpful. Their
standard of living would be higher because their rations,
annuities, and tribal grass money would now be augmented by
garden products, the sale of some crops, and the proceeds
from sharecropping. In short, farming offered clear
advantages, especially to individuals who were prepared to
appreciate them; i.e., had some English skills and were
accustomed to dealing with Whites. In the absence of
organized resistance to it, these individuals were free to
try it without abandoning other aspects of their Indian
cultures.

It is remarkable that so many of the Kiowa and
Comanche ex-prisoners became farmers, ten of the eleven who
survived until 1890 and of the total sixteen, when
relatively few of the reservation population as a whole did.
While the Kiowa and Comanche were more interested in farming
than the Cheyenne, in 1890 the agent estimated that about

thrty-five percent of the adult males were "engaged in

157

civilized pursuits": i.e., farming or working for wages.
(Table 1.) Clearly their Fort Marion experience influenced
the ex-prisoners to try this new lifestyle. At least some
of them had learned enough English to understand the agents’
explanations and to handle their own negotiations and
arrangements. Second, several of them learned to trust the
judgment of some Whites in such matters, especially Black
Horse and Quoyouh, who sought agents’ and even Pratt’s
advice. (For example, in 1899 Quoyouh wrote Pratt asking
for help in getting agency assistance for the construction
of a new house. 11/23/99, Kiowa Indian Houses File, OHSIA.)
Third, all had experienced the relatively rich material life
of Fort Marion and may have viewed farming as a way to once
again attain the better clothes, the better food, and the
little luxuries obtainable with cash. Finally, most of them
had maintained at least some friendly contact with the
agency after they quit work there about l880--farming,
working on the freight trains or as policemen, educating a
few of their children, remaining near Anadarko. Only White
Horse was noted as a member of any of the anti-White groups.
Most of the Kiowa ex-prisoners did oppose the grass leases
in the late 1880’s, but their position must be viewed as
political and economic, not as categorically anti-White.
The same men who opposed the leases were also farmers, and
one argued for them noting that they needed the acreage

themselves for winter pasture. (WOhaw, 9/5/92, Kiowa
Cattle, Pastures, and Grazing File, OHSIA.)

158

The Kiowa and Comanche ex-prisoners also had on
their reservation the examples of the Wichita and Caddo,
Indians who had been farming in the area for a generation,
and squaw men who had large successful farms or ranches and
who were anxious to see the region agriculturally developed.
Several of the ex-prisoners had direct ties (by marriage or
partnership) with squaw men: Tischecoddy, Quoyouh, Black
Horse all had business relationships with Whites living on
the reservation. It is not surprising then that, as a
group, the Kiowa and Comanche returnees were so receptive to
the farming program.

The Cheyenne returnees could/did not experiment with
farming in the 1880’s, and Cheyenne-Arapaho allotment in
1891 therefore found them both unprepared to try an
agricultural life and still somewhat hostile to White
authorities and culture. Nonetheless, some had cooperated
to a small degree. At mid-decade, the Dog Soldiers held
full sway on the reservation, and most returnees kept their
children out of school and otherwise followed the lead of
Howling Wolf and Little Medicine. The exceptions were
Packer, who sent a child to a reservation school in 1881,
and Antelope, Buffalo Meat, Chief Killer, and Medicine
Water, who sent children to Carlisle between 1881 and 1889.
Star worked as the agency carpenter between 1887 and 1888,
and he and Left Hand also served as army scouts. (C&A

Census, 1884-1890: C&A Employees File, 1885-1890. OHSIA.)

159

The Dog Soldiers’ authority began to erode after
their victories over the White cattlemen in 1886. As
rations were withheld and people went hungry, determination
flagged. The conservatives’ power received an additional
serious blow when Howling Wolf ingloriously lost his
leadership position. In 1881, he had been accused of raping
a Cheyenne woman and had had to leave his band to live
elsewhere on the reservation. (This incident coincided with
the death of Minimic and with Howling WOlf’s turn to
conservatism.) Then, in 1893, he allegedly raped a White
girl. He was captured by White police and briefly jailed,
but he escaped. Once back on the reservation, he was
protected by Cheyenne warriors, but his status and authority
had been destroyed. He fled in exile to the Kiowas, where
he lived in hiding for about the next ten years. ("Howling
Wolf," Appendix B.)

Little Medicine, however, remained an ”impudent,
abusive, and arrogant” spokesman for the conservatives. He
wanted the Arapahos sent to another reservation because they
were too cooperative with Whites, for example, and he
demanded that the agent provide food for traditional feasts.
The agent said he could be kept on the reservation only by
the presence of troops. (Ashley, Annual Report, 1889.)

Little Medicine no longer fully represented the rest
of the ex-prisoners by about 1890. They still lived in the

conservative area, but as we have seen, several educated

160

children and a few worked for the agency. Buffalo Meat ran
wagon trains from the mid- to the late 1880’s. (C&A Freight
and Transportation, 1885-1890, OHSIA.) Most importantly,
however, several of the men ascended to lead their own
bands: Packer, Antelope, Bear Shield, Buffalo Meat, and
Medicine Water (a leader before 1875.) None of these were
as hostile to Whites as Little Medicine or Howling Wolf; as
each of these established himself as an authority in his own
right, he was more free to cooperate with Whites without
fear of retribution, as were members of their bands. For
example, in 1884 a child from Packer’s band attended
Laurence Institute. (C&A Census, 1881-90, OHSIA.)

The emergence of attitudes less hostile to
civilization can also be seen in the allotment of the
Cheyenne and Arapaho ex-prisoners. Eleven survived to
receive allotments. Six took theirs in the first allotment
session among those who were not boycotting the process.
Star missed the first session only because he was on active
duty as an army scout. (CsA Indian Scouts, 1891, OHSIA.)
Medicine Water and Chief Killer are not known to have
opposed allotment, but they were among those to whom lands
were assigned in the second allotment session. Bear Shield
and Howling WOlf were also assigned lands, after actively
boycotting and opposing allotment. Little Medicine, so
recently hostile, and an opponent of allotment, nevertheless

took his lands in the first round, having been personally

161

convinced by John Seger to join the group near Seger Colony.
(C&A Allotment Schedule, OHSIA: Berthrong, 1976: 165, 226.)
Four of the ex-prisoners went to Seger Colony: Little
Medicine, Packer, Antelope, and Bear Shield. All of them
died in the epidemics of measles which hit the area in 1893
and 1894. (CaA Census, 1893, 1894, OHSIA.) The rest,
except Buffalo Meat, took their lands in the area where they
had been living near Cantonment. There they continued to
live much as they had been, surviving on rations and
annuities and living in small band groups. After allotment,
there were almost no employment opportunities at the agency
for these men, and freighting was phased out. Only
Nocomista sent a child to school: Round Belly, renamed
Leslie, in the late 1890’s. (CaA Census, 1896, OHSIA.)
Buffalo Meat, who took his allotment near present-
day Kingfisher, however, dramatically departed from the
pattern of the rest of the ex-prisoners. By 1891, he was an
important band head and had supervised freight expeditions
for the agency. In 1890, he had expressed his growing
interest in civilization by ordering a specially tailored
suit from the shops at Carlisle. He took his lands early
(did not oppose allotment), and set up a homestead where he
actually began farming a few acres. In 1892, he sought
Agent Woodson’s help to build a two room house, which he
occupied with his one wife. Again with agency help, he

repaired and expanded the house in 1897. Even more

162

remarkable, Buffalo Meat converted to Christianity. About
1895, he joined a small Baptist congregation, rising
eventually to Deacon. During the late 1890’s and early
1900’s, he spoke often at church gatherings on the
reservation and even toured for Baptist missionary
organizations. (Buffalo Meat was in his fifties in this
period , optimum age for Cheyenne men in leadership and
respect.) Finally, Buffalo Meat sent his youngest son,
Raymond, to school where he actually graduated from seventh
grade, one of only about twenty-five percent of Cheyenne
children to attend all primary grades. ("Buffalo Meat,“
Appendix B.)

Thus, at a time when most of his surviving peers
were living a reduced version of the old ”camp life,"
Buffalo Meat was firmly pursuing the White Man’s Road. In
-nearly every way, from dress to housing to religion and even
to farming, he was on the "right” path. He stayed on that
path until his death in l9l7--leasing and then selling part
of his allotment only when he was too old to farm .

It is in Buffalo Meat’s life that Fort Marion’s
influence may most clearly be seen among the Cheyenne-
Arapaho ex-prisoners. Buffalo Meat returned to Indian
Territory a young man, where he immediately went to work for
the agency. He was a loyal employee, apparently
uninfluenced by the Dog Soldier emergence, until the cuts of

1884, and as soon as he could return to work in 1886 as a

163

freighter, he did. He stayed at it, rising in
responsibility at the same time as his Cheyenne status rose.
Finally, after allotment, he wholeheartedly embraced the
lifestyle prescribed for Indians by White authorities.
Nevertheless, in at least one area, even Buffalo Meat
maintained his "Indian-ness'--he belonged to a dance
society, and participated in dancing for horses. He
obviously did not believe that this activity interfered with
his civilized life. ("Buffalo Meat," Appendix B.)

Of Buffalo Meat’s fellow Cheyenne ex-prisoners, only
Star was as ”civilized." He served as an army scout at
various times after allotment and then settled on his land
where he did farm. He sent his son Locust to school for a
few years. In 1905, at the age of 57, he went on tour with
the XIT Ranch Wild West Show. After his return, he worked
on his allotment, sold firewood and some hay. The agent
estimated his earning capacity at fifty cents a day in 1912.
The family received some extra cash from leasing his wife’s
lands. There is no evidence that Star ever became a
Christian. He died in 1924. (”Star,‘ Appendix B.)

The other men who survived into the twentieth
century (Rising Bull, Nocomistah, Chief Killer, Howling
Wolf) adopted styles of life much more like those of the
rest of the Cheyenne. By the early 1900’s, pressured by
White agents to do so, and following the dominant pattern,

these men all lived on their own or a close relative’s

164

allotment. Their farming was limited to small gardens.
Their income was derived from leases of their own or their
relatives’ allotments, supplemented by occassional sales of
hay, wage work, or sales of inherited lands. Their standard
of living was very low by White standards. Even Buffalo
Meat had to sell half of his allotment in 1916 to have
enough cash to live on (he got $3800, and at his death left
an estate including only the remaining land, $939 in cash (a
startingly large amount, most of the rest left none), and a
horse and wagon. (CsA Allotment File #444, Concho.)

Chief Killer’s life represented a more common
situation among the reservation Cheyenne: frequent
indebtedness. Throughout the early 1900’s, he, or members
of his family, owed various local merchants, and in 1920-21,
the proceeds from the sale of his wife’s land were withheld
by the agent to cover the cost of some farm equipment for
which the merchants were demanding payment. He wrote a
plaintive letter to the agent begging for his funds:

today I am here at this city after my check--...I
am not feeling welll--I got too used that money for
my supportan myself...I just by myself...I got no
money too supported myself with so please pity me
and sent that check back too me--and next Big
Payment come I will sure and paid my acct...(Chief
Killer to Superintendent Coggeshall, 1/24/21, C&A
Indian Files, Cantonment--OHSIA.)

The local farmer refused to release the money, stating it

was an 'old game with the Chief Killer outfit“ to run up

bills and still try to get their lease or land sale money.

165

(Goss to Coggeshall, l/22/21, C&A Indian Files, Cantonment--
OHSIA.) Chief Killer died a few months later.

None of these men converted to Christianity (C&A
Churches, 1891-1915, OHSIA.) and most were known
participants in dances. Several joined the peyote religion,
most notably Howling Wolf, who was introduced to it during
his stay among the Kiowa. He was one of the primary
defendants in the peyote case of 1906-7, and was sketched
with his peyote paraphernalia at one of the dances he
attended regularly. (Petersen, 1968: 9.) Howling WOlf,
despite his loss of leadership, maintained his reputation as
a conservative activists until his death, frequently making
requests to the agents for dances and arguing against too
much cooperation with Whites. For example, in 1918, he and
several other Cheyennes asked to hold a dance in honor of
returning WOrld War I soldiers. The agent refused. He said
the occassion would be "just an excuse" by the ”notorious
kickers” to hold an old style dance. (Supt. to CIA,
7/19/18, C&A Indian Dances, OHSIA.) Howling WOlf even
earned a little extra cash from his conservatism, travelling
to fairs or exhibitions to dance and ”be Indian.”
Ironcally, he died in 1927 in an automobile accident,
returning from one such exhibition. (”Howling WOlf,‘
Appendix, B.)

The Kiowa and Comanche Fort Marion prisoners, like

their reservation peers, had a higher standard of living

166

than the Cheyennes in the 1890’s from the combination of
annuities, rations, reservation leases, and their own small
farms. As a group, they remained markedly more progressive
than their Cheyenne counterparts, especially in farming.
Several joined the Kiowa freighting trains in the mid-1890’s
(Kiowa Freight and Transportation, 1890-1900, OHSIA.), Wohaw
served as an army scout from 1891—95 (Kiowa Scouts, OHSIA:
Petersen, 1971: 207.), and Quoyouh was a policeman and
agency laborer. (Quoyouh to Col. Nessler, Allotting Agent,
5/6/1901, Kiowa Allotments, OHSIA.) Even the most
conservative began to move toward civilization: old White
Horse planted a few acres, and in 1892 (the year he died)
built a house! (wm. wyatt, Report, 7/1/91, Kiowa Farmers
File; Kiowa Indian Houses File, 1/9/93, OHSIA.)

Several of the men took advantage of the growing
trend on the reservation to sublet or sharecrop their farms.
For example, Pautausape hired a White man to work his farm
in 1896 so that he could work as a freighter and a school
helper, at a salary of $120 a year. (Kiowa Freight and
Transportation, 1895: Kiowa Washita School Records, Semi-
Monthly Report, 6/30/96--OHSIA.) Black Horse, who was by
now in his late fifties or early sixties, and Quoyouh also
sharecropped their farms. ("Black Horse,” ”Quoyouh,”
Appendix B.) Tischecoddy, who had a small farm and a cattle
herd in the early 1890’s, went even further. In 1896, he

set up a partnership with E.L. Clark, a squaw man, to fence

167

a large area near Saddle Mountain to raise Clark’s 300 catle
and those of Tischecoddy and two other Indians. (Clark to
Baldwin, 10/16/96, Kiowa Cattle, Pastures, and Grazing File,
OHSIA.) Tischecoddy, along with WOhaw and Black Horse, had
children in reservation schools. (Kiowa Fort Sill Boarding
School File, 1890-1900, OHSIA.) By 1900, five of the men
were living in houses. (Kiowa Indian Houses File, 1895-
1900 , OHSIA.)

But this image of prosperous progressivism had its
limits. None of the Kiowa or Comanche ex-prisoners
converted to Christianity, and the men participated in
traditional marriages and ceremonial life. Wohaw, the scout
who built a house and educated his children, nonetheless had
a reputation as a conservative and belonged to dance
societies. ('Wohaw,” Appendix B.) Perhaps the best example
of the combination in one person of the old with the new was
Tischecoddy. Here was a man who enthusiastically endorsed
education for his children and farming, even ranching
entrepreneurship, for himself, but who nevertheless remained
distinctly Comanche in his attitudes about marriage and
social contracts. Tischecoddy had three wives, one of them
given to him by his brother Pe-e-chip, another ex-prisoner.
In 1891, one of his wives ”ran off” with another man.
Astoundingly, he wrote (through his partner Clark) to Agent

Adams for permission to take action. He asked whether he

 

should take cattle and horses in payment from the man, or

168

whether he could take the woman back by force. He preferred
the latter, since the woman had left a child for him to care
for. (E.L. Clark to Adams, 5/9/91, Kiowa Divorces File,
OHSIA.) The agent’s response has been lost, but it is
remarkable that Tischecoddy, in seeking a traditional
Comanche remedy for a traditional Comanche problem,
nevertheless sought White advice and permission.

The Kiowa and Comanche were allotted in 1901 after
their unsuccessful battle to redraw the Jerome Agreement.
Taneti, who had become a band head by the 1890’s, signed one
of the memorials opposing the agreement (KA 48, Kiowa
Councils, 10/17/92.), but none of the other ex-prisoners
actively campaigned against allotment. A total of nine of
the returnees lived to take their 160 acres, three Comanches
and six Kiowas. All of their allotments except Wohaw’s were
in areas occupied primarily by progressives near Anardako or
Fort Sill. Again except for WOhaw, all the Kiowa allotments
were within the community area where the men had been
farming since the 1880’s: they simply received title to and
continued to occupy their old lands. (Kiowa Allotment
Schedule, Anadarko.) Some continued to farm until they
“retired,” in which case they leased part or all of their
land and lived from those proceeds. (Kiowa Leases File,
OHSIA: Allotment Files 799, 2537, 617, Anadarko.) Four men
(Taneti, Quoyouh, Onkoet, and Pedro) never leased their

allotments, but farmed their lands until they died. Old

169

Pedro married a much younger woman a few years before
allotment, and they sent their daughter to the Methvin
Institute (Methodist mission school) from 1903 to 1907.
(Kiowa Methvin Institute, School Rolls, OHSIA.)
Pautausape’s son Domebo assumed his father’s farming chores,
and was listed among the most progressive Kiowa in 1913.
(Kiowa Reports, Agents File, OHSIA.) Only WOhaw, who lived
away from the progressive group, near Rainy Mountain, did
not farm after he left the army, and he increasingly devoted
his time to dances and the peyote religion. ('Wohaw,"
Appendix B.)

Despite their failure to adopt Christianity, this
group was very largely on the White Man’s Road. While their
last years were in many ways like those of their Cheyenne
compatriots--living on their allotments at the poverty
level, some income derived from leases (the general
reservation standard dropped with the end of annuities and
rations)--their failure to farm was not a continuation of
previous habits but a legitimate retirement as they became
physically unable to continue. Four never did quit. Their
standard of living was reduced after allotment, but none of
these men was ever in the debt Chief Killer experienced.
Nevertheless, only Beahko left any cash in his estate
($277.96) at his death in 1910. (Request to pay heirs,
Kiowa Estates File, 6/22/1915, OHSIA.) The rest left their

heirs only their land. The last of the Fort Marion

170

prisoners, Onkoet, died at the age of eighty-five in 1931,
fifty-three years after his release and after about forty
years of farming. (Kiowa Allotment File #323, Anadarko.)

What then can we say about the warrior group who
returned directly to Indian Territory from Fort Marion? Did
their experience there have a lasting impact on their lives?
How can that impact be seen? In what ways did they differ
from their reservation peers, and how did they differ from
each other? If they were influenced toward ”civilization,"
did their lives influence others to similar changes?

It should be clear from the foregoing discussion
that the Fort Marion experience did have a permanent impact
on the lives of these former prisoners. But the expression
of that impact varied widely between the Cheyenne-Arapaho
group and the Kiowa-Comanche group, as well as between the
extremes within each group. Viewed together, the ex-
prisoners were much more likely to become farmers, work for
wages, or educate their children than their reservation
peers, as Table 1 shows. At every five year interval from
1880 to 1900, the‘ex-prisoners were markedly more active in
“civilized pursuits"--the government term including farming
and working for wages--than the reservation population at

large:

1880
1885
1890
1895
1900

Reservation Population

171

"Civilized Pursuits”

21% (n=9774)
17% (n=7641)
23% (n=7456)
33% (n=6848)
12% (n=6828)

Ex-prisoners

66% (n331)

66% (n=21
55% (n=20
75% (n-l6
80% (n=15
(from Table l)

)
)
)
)

Eighteen of the thirty-five returnees educated at least one

child e

had it

education--had reached these men.

uniform.

Comanch

ach. By 1900, every man with a child of school age

in school.

Clearly,

e ex-prisoners were far

Pratt’s

(Table 2.)

two

main messages-

But the pattern

Table 1 also shows that over time, the

more persisten

-work and
was not
Kiowa and

t in and

representative of a progressive trend than the Cheyennes.

The following gives the figures for “civilized pursuits":

1880
1885
1890
1895
1900

*This figure is undoubtedly inflated:
any attempting even small gardens.

Cheyenne-Arapaho

Reservation
Population
15% (n=5899)
14% (n=3609)
10% (n=3372)
0 (n=3078)
15% (n=3018)

Prisoners
93% (n=14)
100% (n89)
11% (n89)
43% (n=6)
50% (n=6)

"Civilized Pursuits”

Kiowa-Coma
Reservation
Population
33% (n=3875)
20% (n=4032)
35% (n-4084)
65%*(n=3770)

8% (n=3808)

(Table l)

nche

Prisoners
47% (n=l7)
42% (n812)
91% (n=ll)
100% (n89)
100% (n89)

probably includes

These figures obviously demonstrate the Cheyenne ex-

172

prisoners’ initial enthusiasm for wage labor, first around
the agency and as police, and in 1885, as freighters. By
1890, most of them had abandoned all work. The figures for
1895 and 1900 reflect the fact that the few Cheyenne
progressive ex-prisoners outlived their more conservative
peers, even though by this time they numbered only three.
After 1900, no changes occurred in these patterns.

As we have seen, the Kiowa and Comanche ex-prisoners
were somewhat less likely to uniformly embrace the White
Man’s Road immediately after their release, but those who
lived ten or more years after their release were almost
certain to do so. (Table 3.) Here, too, the progressives
outlived the conservatives, and more Kiowas and Comanches
lived until 1900 than Cheyenne returnees--strongly
suggesting that the more progressive lifestyle had better
survival value for those who chose it. (Possible factors in
that survival value might have been improved nutrition,
better medical care, and a greater willingness to seek the
aid and advice of Whites.) As they grew older, surviving
conservatives also moved toward the progressive path: even
Howling WOlf had a small farm by the 1920’s. (Table 3:
“Howling Wolf," Appendix B.) Table 1 clearly shows the
more progressive atmosphere on the Kiowa-Comanche
reservation: for all practical purposes, the number of
Cheyennes farming or working for wages remained constant at

about 10-15% ( The 0 figure in 1895 may be attributed to

173

Agent Woodson’s very hostile attitudes towards the
Indians.), while the number of Kiowas, Comanches, and other
Indians on their reservation farming was usually at least
30%. The marked decline in 1900 was due to the advent of
leasing as a standard method of acquiring cash. Thus, the
life-long impact of Fort Marion was more pronounced among
the Kiowa and Comanche ex-prisoners because their situation
permitted them to exercise it.

Of course, the range of variation in expression of
Fort Marion’s impact was enormous. The greatest extremes
were among the Cheyenne returnees: Little Medicine,
eternally hostile leader of the Dog Soldiers, and Buffalo
Meat, Christian farmer. Nevertheless, by far the majority
of the Cheyennes must be classed as conservative: eight of
fifteen. (Table 3.) Of the three progressives, two died
before the Cheyenne disillusionment in the mid-18805.

The Kiowa and Comanche returnees presented a very
different picture. The two whom I have classed as fully
progressive died very early. Of the six conservatives, four
died before or in 1890. Of the twenty total, eleven lived
what I have called a moderate lifestyle, all of them dying
after 1890. None of these converted to Christianity or
otherwise altered their tribal traditions other than in
their economic behavior. They used their Fort Marion skills
to do so, but it is clear that Pratt’s teaching did not

overcome the power of ethnicity--identity, tradition, and
community--in non-economic areas. (Table 3.)

174

Fort Marion’s influence, then, was both limited to
economic (survival related) behavior and mediated by the
cultural atmosphere of the two reservations. Its
persistence and elaboration depended on the acceptability of
White-style/White-approved activities within the Indian
community. This community atmosphere also determined the
extent to which the ex-prisoners could be agents of
acculturation--the role models Pratt had hoped for. Of all
the Cheyenne-Arapaho ex-prisoners who attained the status of
band head (seven: C&A Census and Issues File, 1879-90,
OHSIA.), only Buffalo Meat led a fully ”civilized” life. He
did actively preach to others, but relatively late in life,
and after allotment when the atmosphere for such activity
relaxed. There is no evidence that he converted many,
either to Christianity or to the White Man’s Road, despite
his celebrity among Whites. ("Buffalo Meat,” Appendix B.)

Of the Kiowa and Comanche returnees, four became
band heads-- all involved to some extent with civilization.
(Kiowa Census and Issues File, 1879-90, OHSIA.) Their
primary associations, judged by business arrangements and
places of residence, were with other relatively progressive
Indians or with Whites, so it is difficult to assess their
impact as agents of acculturation. The same was true of the
majority of the ex-prisoners who were not leaders.
Certainly none aggressively exhorted their people to the

White Man’s Road, preferring to go about their individual

175

business quietly. Nonetheless, the presence of a group of
Indians, living well by comparative standards and led by men
prominent among their peers, must have had some influence
among the Kiowas and Comanches. Just as the presence of a
progressive faction on the reservation permitted or
encouraged the returnees to live as they did, undoubtedly
their success and leadership stimulated the persistence and
enlargement of that faction.

Thus, Pratt was wrong in his description of the
returned older warriors in 1881. Many of them were still
trying to adhere to his teachings, but many had already
”fallen back” or were soon to do so. Those in whom Pratt
had the most confidence, the Cheyennes and Arapahos, would
be ultimately the least faithful, but the Kiowas and
Comanches who lived until after 1890 uniformly acted on what
he had taught them. Nevertheless, only Buffalo Meat became
the ”exception to savage life and superstition" Pratt wrote
of in 1881. Despite the efforts of the Kiowas and Comanches
in farming, Pratt would have undoubtedly seen his experiment
at Fort Marion as a failure: the re-immersion of the men
into the "sea of savagery' resulted in their remaining
essentially Indian.

If the older warriors, armed with three years of
Pratt’s work at Fort Marion, could/did not totally withstand
the attractions of Indian culture on their return, what of

the young scholars? In the following chapter the lives of

176

the Florida Boys who chose to stay in the east for further
education will be traced. All of these who survived also
eventually returned to their reservations, bearing different
skills and expectations than had their older brothers,
uncles, and peers. Their adaptation to life in Indian

Territory took on a different pattern as well.

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TABLE 2

Education of Children

 

 

Carlisle Reservation Schools
Chief Killer (Cheyenne) Chief Killer*
Medicine Water (Cheyenne) Nocomistah*

Buffalo Meat (Cheyenne) Buffalo Meat
Antelope (Cheyenne) Star* (Cheyenne)
Woman’s Heart (Kiowa) Packer* (Arapaho)

Bear Shield** (Cheyenne)
Quoyouh* (Comanche)

Black Horse** (Comanche)
Wohaw** (Kiowa)
Tischecody** (Comanche)
Pe-e-chip* (Comanche)
Pedro** (Kiowa)

Taneti* (Kiowa)

Howling wo1f** (Cheyenne)

Total=18
n=35
No. of men with children No. with children
of school age in school

1880-1883 na 3
1884-1887 na 4
1888-1893 6 3
1894-1897 7 7
1898-1903 11 ll

Compiled from Carlisle Student Records, NA; Reser—
vation School Records, Cheyenne-Arapaho and Kiowa Agencies,
OHSIA: individual biographies, Appendix B.

* indicates that children received White names.
Usually, only children who attended school had White names.

** indicates that a child’s parents were
named in its school records. No asterisk indicates
another source.

184

TABLE 1

The Adaptations of the Older Warriors

Cheyenne-Arapaho Kiowa Comanche
Little Medicine (died
1893)

Long Back (died @1885)

Packer (died 1893)

Lone WOlf(died 1879)
Woman’s Heart (died
1882

Conservatives Antelope (died 1893) Zopehe (died 1879)
Bear Shield (died wyako (died 1893)
1894)
Nocomista (died Eckenahats (died
after 1917) 1890)
Rising Bull (died Koho (death unknown)
1903)
Medicine Water (died
1924)
Howling WOlf (died White Horse (died
1927)* 1892)*
Chief Killer (died WOhaw (died l924)**
l922)*
Pe-eh-chip (died
1912)
Tischecoddy (died
1913)
Onkoeht (died 1931)
Moderate Taneti (died 1905)
Beahko (died 1910)
Pedro (died 1920)
Black Horse (died
1900)
Pautausape (death
unknown)
Star (died 1924) Quoyouh (died 1909)
Cometsevah (died Maukopeh (died 1880)
1878)
Minimic (died 1881) Aulih (death un-
known)
Progressive
Buffalo Meat (died
1917)
Unknown Left Hand Sogause

 

185

ProgressivesFarmer or wage laborer; one wife; educate
children; Christian.

ModeratesEconomic behavior largely farming or wage labor;
may educate children. Non-economic behavior reflects reser-
vation trends.

Conservative=Economic behavior is dependence on rations,

annuities, leases. All other behavior reflects reservation
trends.

The above categories are applied to behavior which
was characteristic of most of a man’s life. Because of lack
of data, the two women have been omitted.

* these men moved toward a more moderate way of life late in
life.

** Wohaw moved toward a more conservative way of life.

186

Chapter 6

The Young Scholars

I...am trying to live right...Since returning
from school I have been the frien and have lived in
peace with the white man, and all others. (Little
Chief, Report of Returned Students, Carlisle Student
Records, 1910, NA.)

Little Chief wrote describing his life since his
release from Carlisle Indian Industrial School. He was one
of twenty-two Fort Marion prisoners who chose not to go home
in the spring of 1878. Instead, they stayed in the east for
further education. In many ways, Little Chief’s description
of himself suited most of the young scholars. As a group,
these men were markedly more progressive than both their
reservation peers and their older Fort Marion compatriots:
they had (and used effectively) a greater command of
English, educated their children, worked at farming or other
jobs, and most significant, frequently became Christians.
For the older warriors, the White Man’s Road, if they chose
it at all, had been a strictly utilitarian adaptation to
reservation conditions. For the young scholars, it was far

more. It included not just practical ways to live more

comfortably but also the ideology and world view which

187

Whites sought to impress upon Indians. To a remarkable
degree, these men were, in fact, "civilized."

The young scholars arrived at Hampton Normal and
Agricultural Institute in April, 1878. Fifteen of them
remained there for a summer of farm work and schooling while
four went on to Syracuse, New York, to begin intensive
religious instruction. Three went to Tarrytown, New York,
for similar education. Each of the men had a sponsor, an
individual or religious group who had agreed to pay all
expenses for a period of three years. Bishop Whipple of
Minnesota paid for five of the men at Hampton; the Episcopal
Diocese of New York supported some at Syracuse and in
Tarrytown. The expectation of all sponsors was that the men
would remain in training, without a break, until 1881.
(Pratt to Hayt, 4/23/78, LS, PP.)

The experiences of the "Florida Boys" who went to
New York and those who stayed at Hampton were very
different. Dr. Horace Caruthers took personal charge of
the Kiowa, Tsaitkopeta, in Tarrytown along with Zonekeuh
(Kiowa) and Roman Nose (Cheyenne.) Dr. Caruthers, his wife,
and sister, had all been frequent visitors to Fort Marion.
Both Mrs. Caruthers and Amy taught English classes there
and became fond of several of the prisoners. Tsaitkopeta
was a special favorite. Within a few weeks, Caruthers and
Pratt agreed that Roman Nose and Zonekeuh should transfer to

Hampton to join the other scholars there. Tsaitkopeta

188

stayed on with the Caruthers for his full three years, and
slightly more. In essence, although he was in his early
twenties, he became the adopted son of the Caruthers, living
in their home, travelling with them, studying under the
watchful eye of Mrs. Caruthers. (Petersen, 1971: 252, 263;
Petersen, 1964: 463-64; ”Tsaitkopeta,“ Appendix B.)
Tsaitkopeta assumed the Christian name Paul
Caruthers, and for the rest of his life used Paul
Tsaitkopeta (in a variety of spellings) as his official
name. During his stay with the Caruthers, he learned to
read, speak, and write English. He wrote frequently to
Pratt to describe his progress (for example, Tsaitkopeta to
Pratt, 12/16/81, PP) and he even kept a diary of his
experiences including a trip to Florida (in Mooney, M.S.
Field Notebooks, II, 10 passim, 1880, Smithsonian.) Paul’s
letters to Pratt were in a style that would characterize the
writing of many of the other prisoner/students. Although he
was a young adult, Paul wrote as though he were an
adolescent addressing an absent parent. In 1879, he noted
his acceptance of the idea of himself and the other students
as ”boys," explaining that the warriors who had gone home
would not hold to the new ways: "they not boys but men.
Old men don’t give up old ways... the young mens you now
got will listen to you and grow better.“ (Tsaitkopeta to
Pratt, 1/5/79, PP.) In answer to a letter, he thanked Pratt

for a photograph:

189

I would answer you before but I know you very
busy 5 I don’t want trouble you too often with
letters...It came just a good time because I had a
present of a photograph album for Christmas & your
picture can be the first one in it. mamma [ Mrs.
Caruthers] sent my picture to you...I feel very glad
& much favored that you gave me your picture.
(Tsaitkopeta to Pratt, 1/24/80, PP.)

Paul apparently received no special training in any
particular skills in Tarrytown. Instead, he continued the
enterprises he had begun at Fort Marion: decorating sea
beans, making bows and arrows, and creating other curios for
sale. He made enough money to send cash, blankets, and
clothing to his family. (Tsaitkopeta to Hunt, 12/17/79,
Kiowa Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.) In 1879, Paul fell ill
with tuberculosis, but he continued his studies. The trip
in 1880 was for his recuperation, although he never fully
recovered. Apart from his scholastic training, Paul also
received intensive religious instruction. February 1, 1879,
he was baptised an Episcopalian. ('Tsaitkopeta,” Appendix
H; Petersen, 1971: 252.) In short, Paul Tsaitkopeta led a
comfortable, protected life as the protege of the Caruthers,
and judging from his letters, he responded to their
attention eagerly and gratefully.

The men sent to Syracuse also led relatively
luxurious lives, although they were expected to study hard.
Making Medicine (Cheyenne), Zotom (Kiowa), Shave Head

(Cheyenne), and Taawayite (Comanche) were supervised by the

Rev. John B. Wicks, who took them to Paris Hill, New York,

190

in May, 1878, where they lived in the Episcopal rectory.
Each had a separate sponsor: Making Medicine was supported
by Mrs. George Pendleton; Zotom by the Dakota League of the
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts (an early women’s Indian
rights group); Shave Head and Taawayite by the Episcopal
Diocese of Central New York. These men had been recognised
at Fort Marion as especially promising students by Deaconess
Mary D. Burnham, who personally arranged for their training
specifically to ”become Christian teachers and ministers to
their peOple.' (Petersen, 1971: 176, 191.)

Thus, their work was particularly focused on their
Christian education. They divided their time between
academic study in a classroom in the rectory and practical
farm labor, assisting Rev. Wicks with his chores. (The
Paris Hill area was quite rural.) They also participated in
various community activities, attending church affairs,
parties, and meetings. Like Tsaitkopeta, they quickly
learned English and wrote Pratt often. Zotom kept a
journal. (Petersen, 1971: 176-79.) Also like Tsaitkopeta,
they lived as Rev. Wick’s sons: despite their ages (24 to
34) they were treated as White families treated teen-aged
boys. Only Making Medicine was referred to as a ”man" by
his host. (Wicks referred to the group as "boys" in his
correspondence with Pratt. LS, PP.)

Within a few months, Rev. Wicks concluded the

students had made enough progress to be baptised. In a

191

special service October 6, 1878, held in Syracuse at the
direction of Bishop Frederic D. Huntington, the four
received their new Christian names. Making Medicine became
David Pendleton (after his sponsor), the name he used the
rest of his life. Zotom took Paul Caryl, ”Paul” for the
apostle and "Caryl” for an officer of the Dakota League.
Shave Head became John Wicks, after their mentor, and
Taawayite became Henry Pratt, after his old supervisor.
They were confirmed October 20. (Petersen, 1971: 178, 244,
225.) The assumption of such names must be viewed as a sign
of the men’s profound identification with their hosts and
benefactors.

Zotom, Taawayite, and Shave Head had been in their
early twenties when they were sent to Fort Marion, and
unmarried, but Making Medicine was in his mid-thirties,
married, and a fairly important warrior. His enthusiastic
adoption of the White Man’s Road delighted Pratt and Rev.
Wicks, and as he made more progress, Pratt found ways to use
him to advance the cause of Indian education. In 1878,
Pratt had wanted Making Medicine, now David Pendleton, to go
with him to recruit for Hampton in Indian Territory, but
that trip was cancelled. In 1879, however, Pratt did send
him to recruit for his new school soon to open at Carlisle.
Making Medicine returned with a number of Cheyenne children-.
-and with his own wife and son, who stayed with him for the

remainder of his training. Undoubtedly the presence of

192

David’s family contributed greatly to Pratt’s and Wicks’
perceptions of him as an adult. (Petersen, 1971: 140-41.)

The prospective missionaries continued their efforts
and in 1879 Rev. Wicks reported that while they were all
doing well, Zotom (”the Kiowa") was potentially the best
missionary:

The Kiowa,...quick to see, apt to learn,
sometimes headstrong and sometimes heartstrong, is
growing in his own way. Of the four, he will be the
voice which shall tell out with all the grace of
Indian eloquence the good tidings that are now
coming to him, and through him to his people. (In
Petersen, 1971: 178.)

Zotom himself appeared to believe in his own potential, as
well, writing to Agent Hunt, ”I like to aid you some things
by and by I got home there. I no want stay Indians camp I
like to stay always in white man house.” (Zotom to Hunt,
1/22/80, Kiowa Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.)

In their second year of training, the four men
parted company. In September, 1880, Shave Head (John Wicks)
and Henry Pratt Taawayite left Paris Hill. Taawayite went
to Carlisle to join the other young scholars who had begun
there the year before. He had not been as successful in his
religious training as the others and was sent on for other
practical training. He had been pleading to be allowed to
go home since at least May, 1880, but Pratt opposed allowing

any student to return to his people alone; peer pressure

would force him “back.” (Pratt to Hunt, 5/5/80, Kiowa

193

Carlisle Indian School File, OHSIA.) Therefore, he was kept
at Carlisle until a group was ready to depart.

Shave Head, however, was sent directly home.
Pratt’s policy at Carlisle was to return any sick student
who could travel to his home--there to either recover or
die. Shave Head had contracted tuberculosis in 1879 and
steadily deteriorated in 1880. He was sent back to Indian
Territory with two other sick ”Florida Boys,” and he died
there in November. (Cheyenne Transporter, 11/26/80, OHSIA:
Petersen, 1971: 244.)

Paul Caryl Zotom and David Pendleton Oakerhater (a
variant of his Cheyenne name) persisted in their training,
however, and were ordained deacons June 7, 1881. Bishop
Huntington wrote of the occassion that:

The church of modern times presents no parallel
case of savage men captured in war, fierce and
revengeful, returning in a few short years as
missionaries of Christ and His Church to their
heathen people. (in Petersen, 1971: 179.)

And return they did, leaving the same day as their
ordination, with Henry Pratt Taawayite and the Rev. Wicks,
intending to establish missions in Indian Territory.
(Petersen, 1971: 179.)

Thus, the few men who went to New York for their
educations were treated well. In their roles as juvenile
family members in the homes of their sponsors or teachers,

they interacted with their communities, attending parties

194

and events. Their training was primarily religious. Those
who remained at Hampton had a very different experience.
With the return of Roman Nose and Zonekeuh from Tarrytown,
seventeen Indian scholars enrolled at Hampton in 1878.
(Kiowas: Koba, Etahdleuh, Tonekeuh, Zonekeuh, Tsadletah,
Ohettoint. Cheyennes: Little Chief, Roman Nose, Cohoe,
White Man, Matches, Squint Eyes, Soaring Eagle, Bear’s
Heart, Buzzard, Big Nose. Arapaho: White Bear.) They were
mostly in their mid-twenties. Only Tsadletah and Koba were
over thirty: only four had married before 1875. In short,
they had been men of little personal status in Indian
Territory. Their youth disqualified them as leaders, and
their junior status as warriors with very little wealth was
confirmed by their unmarried state. With the end of their
traditional life, much impressed upon them by Pratt and his
aides at Fort Marion, they must have felt they had little to
go home for. (List of prisoners in Pratt to Hayt, CIA,
4/23/78, LS, PP.)

At Hampton, they found a well-established school for
Blacks--freedmen--founded in 1868. In its ten years of
operation, its director, General Armstrong, had developed a
curriculum intended to teach practical skills, especially
scientific agriculture, and to prepare young Blacks to teach
others, especially in the primary grades. The school was a
boarding school, and the pupils functioned on a military

regimen. Rules for cleanliness and behavior were strictly

195

enforced. (Petersen, 1964: 468; Clippings, Mrs. Pratt’s
Scrapbooks, PP.)

Thus, in many ways, Hampton was very little
different from Fort Marion for its new pupils--and quite
different from the New York surroundings of the religious
trainees. The Indian men lived in dormitories, continued to
wear their uniforms, and immediately resumed their studies.
On their arrival, the ”Florida Boys” could reportedly speak
only very broken English, but at least two of them spoke at
an assembly for the students and White visitors, and Matches

delighted his audience with his appreciation for the ladies

present:

I go school--way off. I come a school--three
days, way off--sea. I go school here--I like here.
Come last night, half past one...I went school-~Miss
Mather. I like here--all these girls--good girls.
("Indian Raid on Hampton,“ an account of the
prisoners’ arrival, May, 1878, clipping, Mrs.
Pratt’s Scrapbooks, PP.)

The men were put to work at a variety of tasks
including farm labor, carpentry, operating knitting and
sewing machines, and serving as dining hall waiters. They
also put in regular tours of duty as guards for the school.
Since the curriculum at Hampton equally stressed academic
and vocational education, their routine was altered
seasonally. During the regular academic year, four days a

week were devoted to classroom study and two to farm or

other labor. During the summer, the pattern was reversed,

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with the stress on farm work. (Clipping, 4/22/78, Mrs.
Scrapbooks, PP; Petersen, 1971: 101.)

The religious training begun at Fort Marion also
continued. The students attended chapel each Sunday and
were expected to recite psalms, sing hymns, and
occassionally address the group in English. Their teachers
believed that the young scholars found help and sustenance
in their new faith. (Clippings, Mrs. Pratt’s Scrapbooks,
PP.) Perhaps they did. In March 1879, eleven of them were
baptised Christians by the school chaplain. He wrote about
the simplicity of their faith:

One point in theology they understand, and one
point only. It is to walk the new road in the help
of Jesus; and they show their faith by their works.
Digging in the earth is not the chief joy of an
Indian warrior; but Koba writes: ”I pray everyday,
and hoe onions." (in Petersen, 1971: 131-32.)

Many of the ”Florida Boys” kept in close contact
with Pratt, writing to him to report on their studies and
activities. (For example, Koba to Pratt, 6/22/79; Ohettoint
to Pratt, 7/11/78; Etahdleuh to Pratt, 7/4/79, LR, PP.)
They also wrote to their agents, Miles and Hunt, noting
their good work, their plans for living properly on their
return, or even reporting the death of a fellow student.
(Ohettoint to Miles, n.d., 1879, PP; Bear’s Heart to Miles,
6/2/79, CaA Deaths File, OHSIA.) Some also wrote to their
benefactors, the sponsors paying for their educations.

(Etahdleuh to Miss Mather, 1/6/80 in Petersen, 1971: 142.)

197

These letters, like those of Tsaitkopeta and the men at
Paris Hill, were phrased like those of adolescents, seeking
Pratt’s approval and encouragement or assuring their patrons
of their hard work.

However, despite the similarities, in key ways
Hampton was also markedly different from Fort Marion for the
Indian students. First, they were no longer among their
older Indian compatriots. They could not seek out the other
ex-prisoners for reinforcement of their Indian identities or
to behave in roles other than as subordinate students.
Instead, they were surrounded by much younger Black
students, with whom they attended class, but from whom they
were otherwise strictly segregated. Their primary contacts
were with their White teachers, who treated them like
children. (See the discussion below of Soaring Eagle.) At
Fort Marion, the men had a remarkable degree of autonomy:
they could leave the fort, associate with local people,
schedule their own time and activities within certain
limits. At Hampton, that freedom ended. Here, their every
moment was scheduled and supervised. Contacts with local
residents on a casual basis were impossible. Hampton was
the real prison.

This severe regimentation, accompanied by their
treatment as children, undoubtedly contributed to the
apparent juvenilization of the Fort Marion scholars. Called

”boys” by everyone, they responded as boys, despite their

198

ages and experience. Most of them struggled hard to win the
approval and affection of their supervisors, and especially
of Pratt. There are suggestions of resentment and
resistance from some of the men (requests to go home,
especially--Most of this evidence is in Hampton records in
Virginia, which the author was unable to use.), but most
responded well from Pratt’s point of view, accepting their
new roles and the whole of the White Man’s Road, its
ideology and practice.

The Indian students worked at Hampton, following
regular- school routine, until the summer of 1879. During
that year, one student, Big Nose (who had renamed himself
Nick Pratt) became ill, and he died in May of 1879. He was
buried at Hampton with due ceremony. (Armstrong to Miles,
6/2/79, C&A Hampton, OHSIA.) Pratt, in the meantime, had
been working to obtain permission and funding to open a
separate school for Indians. He believed that Indians
should not be educated with Blacks, and he felt that an
equal balance of the sexes should be maintained in the
student population--a “civilized" Indian married to a
”savage" would surely revert. He also had disagreements
with Armstrong over the handling of the Florida Boys.
(Pratt, 1964: 213-15.) Armstrong had suggested placing
some of the men on farms in order to accustom them to actual
White lifestyles, and Pratt seized on the idea to remove the

men from Hampton, explaining that he wanted to make room for

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younger students of both sexes. He developed a plan to
place them on a working farm for six months a year, leaving
them in school at Hampton or elsewhere the other six months.
(Petersen, 1964: 465.)
The plan was implemented in the summer of 1879.
Deacon Alexander Hyde, a trustee of Hampton, arranged to
place twelve of the now sixteen men on the farms of his
neighbors in the Lee, Massachusetts area. They were
scattered to several different farms where they lived and
did farm labor. Some experienced real problems with the
difficulty of the physical labor or did not get along with
their host families (Petersen, 1964: 466.), but most seemed
to adjust well. Roman Nose wrote Pratt that he ”liked [his]
new friends here very much,” and that he was trying to work
hard and learn well. (Roman Nose to Pratt, 6/1879 in
Petersen, 1964: 466.) Bear’s Heart also liked his new
situation.
I was very glad to learn up there the farm. I
stayed with Mr. Frank Merrill, he is very kind man,
he learn me how to work with a mowing machine. I
work on the farm, I cut corn stalks, and pick
potatoes, and pick apples; Mr. A. Hyde, who has
charge of all the Indian boys, want us all work on
the farm and learn: he is very kind to me, and of
all the Indian boys. (Bear’s Heart to J.R. Murie, a
Hampton teacher, November, 1880 in Petersen, 1971:
102.)
One of the men faced a serious problem at Lee,

however, not directly related to the work or his

relationship to his hosts. He fell ill with tuberculosis.

200

Tsadletah, who had been working on the Goodspeed farm,
sickened quickly and could not leave as the others prepared
to return to school. He died at Hyde’s farm October 6,
1879, and was buried at Lee. ('Tsadletah,‘ Appendix B.)
Three others may have also contracted the disease at Lee:
Bear’s Heart, Buzzard, and Koba would all be dead within
three years of tuberculosis.

Pratt’s efforts to found his own school finally were
rewarded during the summer of 1879, and he went west to
recruit new students. (While he went to the Sioux, Making
Medicine and Etahdleuh went to Indian Territory. Petersen,
1971: 144.) Pratt had selected the abandoned army post at
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as the site of his new school, and
in the fall of 1879, he took ten of the "Florida Boys” there
with him. Not only were they to continue their educations,
but they were to assist him in rebuilding the post and to
serve as "examples of civilization” to the much younger
Indians who made up the student body. (Pratt, 1964: 230-
244.)

By October of 1879, then, the scholars were divided
into three groups: four religious scholars in New York;
four students at Hampton; and ten at Carlisle. The group at
Hampton rapidly dwindled to one, however. Squint Eyes
(Cheyenne) left almost immediately to go to work for the
Smithsonian Institution. Over the next year, he served as a

bird collector in Florida, a taxidermist, and most

201

importantly, as a guide to the museum. He was said to be
almost as popular an attraction as the exhibits, and the
Smithsonian photographer used him as a model for various
tribal costumes. (Smithsonian Annual Report, 1881: 40:
Pratt to Miles, l/20/80, C&A Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.)
Soaring Eagle, another Cheyenne, returned to his
reservation in October, 1879--the first of the young
scholars to decide he had had enough White Man’s education.
Perhaps he had had enough of humiliation at the hands of his
teachers:
The little school ma’am, with amusing confidence
and with audacity that was rather startling, treated
her scholars as if they were children in a primary
school. She would encourage them, invite them to
”speak up,“ reprove them for forgetfulness and give
her approval in a manner that seemed to gratify the
Indian heart, while it provoked the smiles of
astonished spectators. When she invited Soaring
Eagle to explain the peculiarities of a penininsula,
and Soaring Eagle’s intellect would fail to soar to
the necessary extent, she would appeal sharply from
him to Bear’s Heart, who would unfold the mysteries
of a peninsula in a manner that seemed to make
Soaring Eagle wish he was dead. (newspaper
description of Hampton, in Petersen, 1971: 101.)
Zonekeuh became yet another victim of tuberculosis.
He was sick by the fall of 1879, and by late winter of 1880,
it was clear he would not recover. As he was not well
enough to travel to Indian Territory, he was sent to
Carlisle in March. He died April 27, 1880. (Carlisle
Student Records, NA: Petersen, 1971: 102, 258.) Only

Bear’s Heart remained at Hampton, where he was considered an

202

outstanding pupil. He commanded the Indian student guard
detail, and he led the Hampton marching battalion and band
at President James A. Garfield’s inauguration. His teachers
especially appreciated his influence in calming and
controlling the young Sioux students. But Bear’s Heart,
too, was sick by late 1880 with tuberculosis, and he was
sent home in 1881, one of only six of the scholars to
complete their full three years of study. (Cpt. Henry
Romeyn to Miles, 3/9/81, C&A Hampton File, OHSIA: Petersen,
1971: 104-5.) As his teacher Henry Romeyn put it, Bear’s
Heart’s record at Hampton had been "without a stain."
(Romeyn to Miles, 3/31/81, C&A Hampton File, OHSIA.)

The men who transferred to Carlisle were apparently
less dedicated to their educations than Bear’s Heart or were
becoming less satisfied with their situations. Nearly all
of them went home in 1880. The departure of several of them
was precipitated by a letter from Minimic, who asked the
Cheyennes to come home to help lead their tribe on the White
Man’s Road. (Pratt to Miles, 1/20/80, C&A Indian Prisoners
File, OHSIA.) Little Chief, Buzzard, and White Man left
Carlisle together January 26, 1880--after only four months,
perhaps because Buzzard was sick. He died on the
reservation soon after his return. ('Buzzard,‘ Appendix B.)
Squint Eyes also returned to Indian Territory from
Washington, D.C., early in 1880. ("Squint Eyes," Appendix

B.) In March, three more went home: White Bear, Cohoe, and

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Tonekeuh. Ohettoint, who had been Number One on the
enrolment list at Carlisle, departed at the end of the
academic year in June. In March, he had made a recruiting
trip for Carlisle, and Pratt expected him to be ”very
helpful" to his people because of his new skills and
determination. (Pratt to Hunt, 5/5/80, Kiowa Carlisle File,
OHSIA.) On his departure, he made a speech to the Carlisle
students, exhorting them “Do not walk in the Indian road any
more.” (Carlisle School Records, NA; Petersen, 1971: 166.)

Two other students who had intended to serve out
their full 'three years nevertheless had to leave in
September, 1880. Koba and Matches both had tuberculosis and
went home with Shave Head. Matches recovered, but Koba died
immediately. Pratt considered his death a tragedy as he had
been among the most promising students. He had been
learning tinsmithing and intended to return to Carlisle to
complete the course. Prior to his departure, Pratt wrote
that Koba, now aged thirty or thirty-one, was "a thoroughly
good boy, and I consider that his influence will be valuable
amongst his people, equal to the cost [of his training].'
(Pratt to Acting CIA Marble, 8/9/80, NA, OIA, LR: 1112-80.)

By the fall of 1880, then, only Roman Nose and
Etahdleuh remained at Carlisle. Roman Nose also learned the
tinsmithing craft, advancing to such a degree that the
instructor advertised that he would bet $100 that Roman Nose

could make better wares than any other apprentice of equal

204

training. (Petersen, 1964: 470.) He made a recruiting
trip for Carlisle in the summer of 1880, and while home,
exhorted his friends and relatives to work hard and learn
Christianity. In fact, his father did “abandon the blanket”
and buy a farm. (Petersen, 1964: 471.) His trip
apparently reminded him, however, of home and family and he
was soon anxious to go home, marry, and settle down. After
asking Agent Miles to be sure to have at least a room in a
house ready for him ("I no like it to live in Indian tents
any more." Roman Nose to Miles, 11/3/80, C&A Prisoners
File, OHSIA.), he left for Indian Territory in March, 1881.

Etahdleuh was Pratt’s star pupil, his protege and
pet. Their relationship began at Fort Marion, when
Etahdleuh was eighteen or nineteen years old. He became one
of Pratt’s most trusted assistants, serving as quartermaster
sergeant, in charge of all goods and stores for the fort.
He also served as commander, with Making Medicine, in
Pratt’s absence. He participated actively in the
"entertainments” held to raise money for the young scholar’s
educations, and was a favorite of the White teachers and
fort visitors. (Pratt, 1964: 119, 185.)

Because of his relatively greater skills in English
and his willingness to ”perform” in public, Pratt almost
always chose Etahdleuh to speak at fund raising events or
other occassions to demonstrate that Indians could be

civilized. At Hampton, he was a frequent speaker, and he

205

was among several of the men taken to meet President
Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879. He was instrumental in the
arrangements for the Lee, Massachusetts, summer, travelling
to the area to meet the residents and calm their fears.
(Petersen, 1971: 140-41.)

After his recruiting trip in the late summer of
1879, Etahdleuh went to Carlisle, where he served as Pratt’s
assistant and continued his frequent speechmaking. He fell
in love with one of his Kiowa recruits, renamed Laura, and
Pratt, seeking to discourage the affair, sent him to replace
Squint Eyes at the Smithsonian in 1880. (Pratt wanted Laura
to graduate before a marriage; this incident is an example
of his treatment of the men as boys incapable of making
their own decisions.) He stayed a few months, but became
ill with eye and throat trouble and was sent to Syracuse (to
Deaconess Burnham) to recover. He returned to Carlisle
before Christmas, 1880, and remained there, teaching younger
pupils and making speeches. By 1881, his own school work
was finished, but he stayed on at Carlisle to assist Pratt
as disciplinarian--and to wait for Laura. As soon as she
graduated in 1882, they were married in an elaborate
ceremony at Carlisle. (Carlisle Student Records, NA, #1359:
Pratt to Hunt, 9/21/81, Kiowa Carlisle File, OHSIA:
Petersen, 1971: 142-50.)

Pratt and Etahdleuh both expected that the couple

would stay at Carlisle to work as teachers and aides, but

206

Agent Hunt wrote in June of 1882 asking that they return to
Indian Territory. As the best educated young Kiowa couple
in the history of the tribe, they would surely be of great
help to him. He offered them jobs as interpreter and school
aide/seamstress. Although he offered less in salary than
Pratt would pay them, they decided their duty lay at home
among their peOple. They left Carlisle August 7, 1882.
(Etahdleuh to Hunt, 7/11/82; Pratt to Hunt, 6/28/82; Pratt
to Hunt, 8/2/82-- Kiowa Carlisle File, OHSIA. Petersen,
1971: 151.)

By 1882, then, all the “Florida Boys” had gone home.
Most had spent a total of about five years away from their
friends and families. Tsaitkopeta and Etahdleuh had been
gone seven years. They returned as men in their mid-to late
twenties, of traditionally marriageable age, but with many
non-traditional new skills and attitudes. All had learned
at least rudimentary English and mathematics; they had all
had extensive practice at farming and usually an additional
craft such as carpentry or tinsmithing. Nearly all had been
baptised Christians. Most believed in the work ethic and
that Indians should abide by the wishes of Whites in the
design of their lives. They had been changed far more
profoundly than their fellow prisoners who returned directly
home from Fort Marion. How did they fare back on their
reservations?

Soaring Eagle, the first to return in 1879, did not

207

set an encouraging precedent by the standards of White
authorities. He went to work on the Cheyenne-Arapaho police
force in 1879, and served until 1881, when he was fired for
incompetence. (CaA Police File, 1881, NA.) He married
about 1880, and after his dismissal from the police, joined
Antelope’s (ex—prisoner) band in 1881. He belonged to
Nocomistah’s band (conservative ex-prisoner) in 1885. (CaA
Census, 1880-1886, OHSIA.) He never again worked at the
agency, and judging from his presence among the
conservatives, did not use his education to lead others to
civilization. His two children did not attend school. He
died in 1887. (C&A Census, C&A Employees File, 1880-88,
OHSIA.) In most respects, his life was identical to those
of the other Cheyenne Fort Marion returnees.

Those who returned in 1880 presented a much
different picture. There were four Cheyenne in the first
group, of whom one--Buzzard--died almost immediately. The
other three lived many more years, the first dying in 1923
(Little Chief) and the last in 1932 (Squint Eyes). They all
demonstrated the deep impact of their educations. Each was
employed at the agency throughout the early to mid-1880’s as
laborer, teamster, or policeman. (CsA Employees File, 1880-
87, OHSIA.) Squint Eyes made a trip to Arizona with a
Smithsonian expedition in 1880. ("Squint Eyes,‘ Appendix
B.) When agency employment was curtailed in 1884-85, both

Little Chief and Squint Eyes joined the army as scouts.
(CaA Employees, Scouts, 1884-86, OHSIA.)

208

About 1885, White Man (who changed his name to Hail)
did move to the Cantonment area, but after allotment, he
became a farmer and stock raiser and continued to work until
blindness forced him to stop. He lived in a house on his
only wife’s land and supplemented his income by leasing his
own land. This brother-in-law of Howling WOlf sent his
children to school, but did not belong to any reservation
churches. In 1907, the agent included him on the Indian
Honor Roll (a listing of Indians believed to be hard working
progressives), and in 1918, another described him as a "good
old Indian." He died in 1931. Although he apparently
abandoned Christianity, White Man/Hail held firmly to other
aspects of the White Man’s Road. ("White Man,” Appendix B.)

Squint Eyes returned to agency work in 1889, after
his service in the army, but after the death of his wife in
1891, he moved to the Northern Cheyenne reservation in
Montana. He leased his Oklahoma allotment and served as a
policeman and cavalry member in Montana, but for most of his
life he was a farmer/rancher. In 1929, he was baptised a
Mennonite. He had sent all his children who lived to
school, and his brother Rutherford B. Hayes attended
Carlisle from 1879 to 1882. (”Squint Eyes,“ Appendix B.)

Little Chief was also an unwavering progressive. He
became a policeman, and served until 1893, by which time he
had established a farm on his allotment near Seger Colony.

He worked as a farmer the rest of his life, and he never

209

faltered in his Christianity. He led the delegation to see
the Kiowa buffalo prophet in 1881, and that failure
apparently confirmed his new faith. Little Chief acted as
interpreter for the Dutch Reformed Church at Colony and
later joined the Mennonite church. By the early 1900’s,
White agents and the Oklahoma City press reported that he
was an ”honored man” among his people, who had since the
1880’s encouraged other Indians to ”civilize." He was often
called Dr. William Little Chief, a distinctly White
honorarium, in memory of his service as the agency medical
assistant in the 1880’s. Despite his progressivism, Little
Chief nevertheless belonged to a dance society and hosted
what the press called the ”last” Sun Dance in 1907.
(”Little Chief," Appendix B.)

These men were followed home by Cohoe and White
Bear, a Cheyenne and an Arapaho. White Bear immediately
began a farm, and by 1885 was living among the farming
Arapahos near Seger Colony. He sent one child to Carlisle
and another to White Institute in the early 1880’s. He died
in 1892. (”White Bear,” Appendix B.) Cohoe, who lived
until 1924, worked in many capacities around the agency, and
for many years was a clerk at the agency trading post--a
distinctive use of his language and mathematics skills. He
also served briefly in the army. By the 1890’s he too, was
farming and he farmed until he was too old to continue. In

some ways, Cohoe diverged from the strictly progressive

210

path. He married sisters, and had children by both (who
were sent to school.) He was an important leader of the War
Dancer’s Society, and a leader of the Native American
Church, holding services in his home in the early 1900’s.
Nevertheless, he was a hard worker at his "civilized"
labors, even if that work brought him few rewards. He
reported in 1910 that "I work hard try to make a living, at
the same time I am getting poor.” (Cohoe, Report of
Returned Students, Carlisle Student Records, NA; ”Cohoe,"
Appendix B.)

The first Kiowa to reach Anadarko was Tonekeuh, in
March of 1880. He had been asking Pratt to let him go for
some time. (Pratt to Hunt, 2/27/80, Kiowa Hampton File,
OHSIA.) As soon as he arrived, Hunt hired him as a laborer,
but he worked only one week. He quit, saying he was too
"tired” to work. (Kiowa Employees File, 3/31/80, OHSIA.)
He wrote to Pratt in April that some White men had "made bad
talk” to him and that he was upset. (The letter is nearly
incomprehensible. Tonekeuh to Pratt, 4/24/80 with Hunt to
Pratt, 5/4/80, Kiowa Carlisle File, OHSIA.) Within a few
weeks, Hunt wrote Ohettoint asking that he try to get
Tonekeuh to go back to work: he had left the agency
entirely. (Hunt to Ohettoint, 5/4/80, KA 10, LS, V01. LL:
410. OHSIA.) Tonekeuh never did return, and he died in
1882.) ("Tonekeuh,' Appendix B.)

His friend Ohettoint came home in June, 1880.

211

Unlike Tonekeuh, he embarked at once on a long life (died in
1934) of hard work. He worked for the agency in the 1880’s
as a laborer and carpenter, and by 1890 had a farm
established near those of the non-student Kiowa returnees.
In addition to his farming, Ohettoint was a policeman from
1889 to 1902, and he occassionally hauled freight. Shortly
after his return, he taught at the agency school, and his
children were all educated. Ohettoint, often called Charles
or Charley, did not become a Christian, and until he was
forced to divorce one by his agent in 1914, he had two
wives. He became an important band head, and like Little
Chief, he was widely admired. In 1908, he built a fine
house. In many regards, his life paralleled those of the
moderate older Kiowas except for his greater prominence and
prosperity. ('Ohettoint,” Appendix B.)

The three who returned in September of 1880 included
the two who died (Shave Head and Koba) and the Cheyenne
Matches, who despite his tuberculosis, lived until about
1888. Pratt sent him home with a carpenter’s outfit, and he
went to work at once for the agency. He demonstrated his
progressiveness in other ways as well. In November, 1880,
he was married in a Christian ceremony at the Arapaho
mission. His children were given White names (Wicks and
Philip) and his son Charles was christened in a formal
service in 1881. His brothers, renamed Carl and Jonas

Matches, attended Carlisle, and Walter (as he called

212

himself) toured with Pratt in 1881. Matches continued his
wage labor, working as a teamster, scout, and freighter
until about 1886. He may have been incapacitated by ill
health, as he died within about a year. ('Matches,"
Appendix H.)

1881 brought the religiously trained "Florida Boys”
back to Indian Territory along with two more of the Carlisle
students. First to arrive was the Cheyenne Roman Nose, who
called himself Henry. He expected to immediately begin work
as a tinner, but Agent Miles placed him in the sawmill until
the tin shop was built. By 1882, the shop was still not
available, and Roman Nose was "getting tired to ask Agent
Miles." (Petersen, 1964: 474.) Instead, he began to think
that he should return to Carlisle for further training until
the shop was ready. For two years he waited for Miles to
assist him, but the shop was never opened, another Indian
(Star, an ex-prisoner) was appointed tinner, and no house
was built for him. He married in 1881 and reported that he
was trying to teach his wife the White road, but in 1883, he
wrote dejectedly to Pratt.

I went to ask Agent Miles for I start to working
my tin trade...Agent said wait and so I keeping rest
in the Indian camps. I have nothing to do no
work...I shall never forget you and I wish to see
you but I have no money to pay my way to come to
Carlisle. Capt. Pratt please excuse this bad
writing my letter. I have almost forget how to

write English language because I have not read and
write long time. (in Petersen, 1964: 475.)

213

Pratt published the letter, and a religious group
provided the money for Roman Nose to return to Carlisle. He
stayed five months, May to September, 1883, but when he
returned, there was still no position for him. He served
instead as a policeman during the Dog Soldier troubles of
1884-85, and as a scout in 1886. Roman Nose occassionally
worked as a policeman until 1894, but in 1890, he finally
got his agency tinshop. Roman Nose had been astonishingly
patient for eight years, waiting for his labor and skills to
be rewarded, but when his chance came, it was apparently too
late. He had embraced the Ghost Dance religion, and the
agent reported that he neglected his duties and refused to
place his children in school. Rebuked by the agent, he quit
and withdrew to the Salt Creek area thirty miles northwest
of the agency. He received that land as his allotment and
lived there the rest of his life. (Petersen, 1964: 475-
77.)

During the 1890’s, Roman Nose began to farm his
land, but his relationship with White authorities was
generally poor. He joined the peyote religion, and opposed
education. As late as 1898, Agent Woodson ordered that his
daughter be brought in to school by force if necessary.
Roman Nose frequently represented his people, especially the
conservatives, in negotiations, using his Hampton-Carlisle
skills by travelling to Washington and writing many letters

to agents and other officials. In response to his growing

214

prominence and his efforts in his people’s behalf, he was
recognised as Chief of the Cheyennes in the late 1890’s.
(”Roman Nose," Appendix B.)

After 1900, Roman Nose apparently became more
compliant, sending his son John to school and trying to get
him to Carlisle. He lived in a small house on his allotment
and farmed, but most of his income was derived from the
lease of his land to the Roman Nose Gypsum Company, which
mined gypsum deposits there and packed the product in bags
decorated with his portrait. He handled most of the
negotiations and correspondence for the leases himself. By
1915, the agents described him as well-educated,
industrious, and of good character. Despite his efforts and
his prominence, Roman Nose was never prosperous. He
complained of his poverty to Pratt, and he left only $4.17
in the bank when he died. Roman Nose died in 1917 at a
peyote ceremony in the home of his friend and fellow
student, Cohoe. ("Roman Nose,“ Appendix B.)

Bear’s Heart followed Roman Nose to the Cheyenne-
Arapaho agency in 1881. He had assumed the name James and
trained as a carpenter at Hampton. When he left, he was
given a full outfit so that he could practice his trade. He
had been greatly liked at Hampton, and despite his illness,
his teachers hoped he would recover and be a prime ”example
of civilization.” He went to work at once at his craft and

struggled against his worsening disease to do well. He

215

died, however, in January, 1882. His obituary in the
Cheyenne Transporter noted that he was ”industrious,
faithful, kind, affectionate, and genial" and that he had
attended church regularly since his return. He was buried

near Minimic in the agency cemetery. (Cheyenne Transporter,

 

2/10/82, OHSIA: "Bear’s Heart,“ Appendix B.)

The three missionaries (Paul C. Zotom, Henry
P. Taawayite, and David Pendleton) returned together in
June, 1881, accompanied by Rev. Wicks, their Paris Hill
patron. Their intention was to found two missions, one on
each reservation. At Darlington, David Pendleton would
serve as Deacon to Rev. Wicks. At Anadarko, Paul Zotom,
Deacon, would run the mission with Taawayite as catechist.
They arrived in Indian Territory in the midst of the furor
over the buffalo prophet Papepte, and Paul and Henry went
out to the Sun Dance camp to try to influence the people
through morning and evening prayer. (Petersen, 1971: 181-
83.) All three men set to work with their preaching and
teaching. David Pendleton helped to build the Whirlwind
Mission at Fay, Oklahoma, and for the rest of his life was a
practicising Episcopalian minister. He took an allotment at
Seger Colony, but lived most of the time at Darlington,
leasing his land for additional income. Late in life, he
purchased lots in the town of Watonga, built a comfortable
home, and died there in 1931. Despite his relatives’ very

conservative positions (Little Medicine, the Dog Soldier

216

leader, was his father), he held fast to his new faith and
way of life. ("Making Medicine,” Appendix B.)

Zotom and Taawayite, however, (the two Kiowas) did
not present such an image of consistent piety. They were
faced with persistent hostility from their fellow tribesmen
(David Pendleton always stayed in progressive areas), and
Rev. Wicks found it necessary to visit them often at
Anadarko, leaving David on his own. For three years, the
two Indians and the minister worked together, steadfastly
opposing the resistance they met.

When I think how bravely and firmly they have met
the storm which has fairly beaten upon them, coming
up out of the depths of the old, dark life, winning
the victory inch by inch, I do just one thing,
“thank God and take courage.” (Rev. Wicks writing
in the Spirit of Missions, in Petersen, 1971: 184.)

But in 1884, Rev. Wicks had to return to Paris Hill
because of ill health. He never went back to Anadarko, and
his departure meant the end of the mission work. Both Zotom
and Taawayite abandoned their Episcopalian posts by 1885.
Taawayite was a policeman in 1885-86, but was discharged for
inefficiency. He moved away from the agency. There is no
evidence that he began .farming until at least the late
1890’s, but by 1910, he was farming his allotment. He
reported then that he had '3 rooms house and horses and mony
$2263," a substantial sum. (Report of Returned Students,
Carlisle Student Records, NA.) Although his children,

Charlie Pratt and Susan, attended school, Taawayite never

217

again joined or participated in a church. He died in 1917.
('Taawayite,‘ Appendix B.)

Zotom rejected his Christian life forcefully,
leaving Anadarko and the house built for him by Hunt, and
going out to the camps. There he followed the example of
his cousin and became a medicine man. His Episcopal
sponsors continued to pay him until 1889, when the report of
a visiting bishop prompted the church to declare him
”retired." In 1890, Paul and his wife participated in the
Ghost Dance, and Mary composed a widely used Ghost Dance
song. Finally, in 1894, the church authorities formally
deposed Zotom from the ministry. ('Zotom," Appendix B.)

But Paul was not entirely finished with
Christianity. Since the late 1880’s, he had been farming
near Anadarko, but in 1895, he and his new wife (Mary had
divorced him and married Ohettoint) moved to Saddle Mountain
to help found a new Baptist mission. There he was baptised
again, and for two or three years he interpreted for the
missionary, but in 1898, he was reported to be the leader of
a ”ghost dance" and peyote group. He soon moved back to
Anadarko and remained a member of the Native American Church
the rest of his life. ("Zotom,' Appendix B.)

Zotom’s children attended school, and two of his
brothers went to Carlisle, but Paul had real problems
balancing the demands of civilization with the pressure from

his peers. His religious experiments are one sign of these

218

problems, as were his difficulties with indebtedness and
liquor. During the 1890’s he was sued for debts and
arrested for public drunkeness. When he served as an
informant to anthropologist James Mooney in 1897, Mooney
described him as "sadly fallen from grace.” Paul died in
1913. (Mooney, 1898: 216; "Zotom,' Appendix B.)

By 1882, the only two "Florida Boys” still in the
east were the Kiowas Tsaitkopeta and Etahdleuh. Paul
Tsaitkopeta finished his education at Tarrytown in July,
1882, and was sent home with a mild case of tuberculosis.
During the early 1880’s, he worked at the agency whenever
his health permitted, serving as a school assistant, wood
cutter, and scout. He was a policeman in 1886 and helped to
remove White gamblers from the reservation. By the late

1880’s, he had begun a small farm. ('Tsaitkopeta,” Appendix

B.)

Paul was not immune to the pressures and
difficulties faced by the missionaries, however. In
addition to his other work, he became the

interpreter/assistant to the Methodist missionary J.J.
Methvin. About 1888, however, he told Rev. Methvin that he
could no longer help him: the ridicule and threats from the
other Indians were too much to bear. (Etahdleuh faced the
same threats; see below.) Methvin convinced Paul to
continue to interpret for him, but Paul always pointed out

to the Indians that he did not live as Methvin preached--he

219

just translated the words. He married sisters, and belonged
to the peyote religion. (Interview with Mrs. J.J. Methvin,

10/26/37, Indian Pioneer History, vol. 36: 200, Foreman

 

Collection, OHSIA.)

As he grew older, Paul’s health again deteriorated.
He stopped farming and became an agency fixture, serving as
a perennial witness in heirship cases, lease agreements, and
other situations in which an Indian signature was required.
He was a Mooney informant in 1897, and was described as
basically an invalid. (Mooney, 1898: 216.) Only four of
his eighteen children lived to school age, but they all
attended school, and two daughters went to Carlisle. In
1906, one of his two wives divorced him to marry a White
man. He died in 1910. As had been the case with the other
religiously trained Kiowas, Tsaitkopeta’s life was one of
struggle to maintain the White Man’s Road in the face of
peer disapproval, and he managed to strike a balance between
the old and the new. ('Tsaitkopeta,” Appendix B.)

The last student to return to Indian Territory was
Etahdleuh Doanmoe, Pratt’s favorite protege. Between August
of 1882 and December of 1884, he and his wife worked at the
agency school, and Etahdleuh made frequent visits to the
camps to encourage the people to try civilization. He was
greatly discouraged at the poverty and illness he found and
at the slowness of his work, but he persisted, insisting

that he did not meet ridicule. (Etahdleuh’s account of this

220

stay on the reservation is in Petersen, 1971: 151-53.) In
1884, however, after the death of his new infant and the
recurrence of old illnesses, Etahdleuh wanted to go back to
Carlisle. ('Etahdleuh,” Appendix B.)

Etahdleuh and Laura worked at Carlisle for two more
years, living in a tent on the school grounds with their new
son Richard Henry, but in 1887, Etahdleuh tried again to go
home. This time, he left Laura at Carlisle, planning to
bring her out once he was established. He and his brother
started a 160 acre farm, and Etahdleuh worked as agency
interpreter. In that capacity, he forwarded the proceedings
of a council on receiving lands in severalty to the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The chiefs’ words clearly
showed they opposed allotment, and Etahdleuh added a
personal note of regret at their attitude. He offered to
try to persuade them.

You know that the Indians know no better...I do
earnestly wish and hope that the days are not far
distant when the Indian shall live among men as men
and have the same rights and privileges of this
great Government. (4/3/87, LR, CIA, NA.)

In September, 1887, illness once again sent
Etahdleuh back to Carlisle where he received training from
the Presbyterian church. Early in 1888, he and his family
returned to Anadarko for the last time, now as missionaries.
At Anadarko, Etahdleuh and Rev. Methvin worked together as

an interfaith team, but Etahdleuh, like Tsaitkopeta, aroused

221

the ire of his fellow Kiowas. If he had met no resistance
before, he did now. First he had advocated allotment; now
he preached Christianity, too. He was warned to stop his
activities, but he persisted. On April 19, 1888, Etahdleuh
and Methvin held a large meeting. Their message left most
of their audience angry, and several Indians announced that
"bad medicine” would be made against them: they would both
die. Exactly twenty-four hours later, Etahdleuh suddenly
died. Given his history of illness, Etahdleuh might have
died of natural causes, but the Indians (and Methvin)
believed that he had been bewitched. This most aggressively
progressive returning student had met the ultimate form of
peer disapproval. (Methvin lived many more years.
Interview with J.J. Methvin, 9/26/37, Indian Pioneer
History, Vbl. 36: 100, Foreman Collection, OHSIA. See
”Etahdleuh," Appendix B, for an account of his huge
traditional funeral.)

It is clear, then, that the young scholars_ were
enormously influenced by their years at school, in ways that
their older fellow prisoners had not been influenced by
their time at Fort Marion. All but three (not including
those who died before 1881) became farmers or worked for
wages. Both non-workers died before 1890, and the other was
a missionary. Seven of the sixteen were Christians. In
fact, the criteria established in the preceeding chapter to

describe the older warriors are inadequate to describe these

222

men, for they were far more progressive than any but the
Christian Buffalo Meat from that group. Only two, Soaring
Eagle and Tonekeuh, totally abandoned the White Man’s Road
and could be called conservatives. Those in this group who
might be called moderates--members of the Native American
Church, polygamists--nevertheless were more progressive than
the moderate older warriors. (See Tables 1 and 3, Chapter
5.) They uniformly educated their children: they began
their work early and stayed at it throughout their lives.
While the older moderates moved toward their combination of
new economic behavior and traditional lifestyles over many
years, the scholar moderates most often retreated from a
very progressive position in the face of disappointments or
severe peer pressure. (For example, Roman Nose, Zotom.)
Five of the seven returned Kiowa scholars fit the
"retreat from progressivism" model, and all who survived
ultimately lived much as their older peers did, living
mostly by farming and occassional wage work. This lifestyle
was of course, far more progressive than that of the
reservation at large, and the evidence indicates that the
four who lived past 1900 had unusually close ties to the
agency, serving often as witnesses, interpreters, and
helpers. But the Cheyenne students were astonishingly more
progressive than their Cheyenne Fort Marion compatriots. On
a reservation where an active and well organized resistance

movement successfully recruited the older returnees and

223

blocked White efforts at civilization for years, these men
nevertheless became farmers and even leaders in
progressivism. Even those who retreated from fully
progressive attitudes never turned instead to fully
traditional ones. As among the younger Kiowas, these men
(Cohoe, Roman Nose) joined the 'neo-traditional' Native
American Church, lived by farming, and willingly used their
skills in interacting with Whites. Why were these men so
much different from both the older ex-prisoners and their
reservation peers? Why could some even remain progressive
when their Kiowa friends could not?

Clearly the most important factor was residence.
The Cheyenne students lived at first near Darlington, the
agency, where the presence of conservatives was small.
Later on, when they founded their farms, they moved to
regions of the reservation occupied by other fairly
progressive Indians, especially the Arapahos near Seger
Colony. While some of these men did proselytize for the
White Man’s Road, they generally did so among the already
converted. Because the hostile conservatives tended to
withdraw to the area around Cantonment and avoid both the
agency and the progressive areas except when absolutely
necessary, these men were able to live their lives in
relative peace. In addition, throughout the period, they
lived near missionaries, one of whom was, of course, one of

their own.

224

The Kiowa conservatives, however, despite a tendency
to live in the northwest section of the reservation, were
more scattered throughout the area, and there were large
camps near Anadarko--who became the specific targets of the
student Kiowas’ preaching. In addition, the men arrived on
the reservation and retreated from their religious beliefs
during the 1880’s, a period of intense religious ferment.
Except for themselves, few full-time Christian missionaries
were among the Kiowas and Comanches until the 1890’s. As
was shown in the previous chapter, Kiowa conservatism was a
primarily religious and lifestyle issue: individual economic
behavior was not usually a target for criticism. It is not
surprising then, that, although they backed away from their
new religious ideas, the Kiowa ex-students generally held to
their ideas about work and education.

The inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the
lives of the Fort Marion students, the “Florida Boys,” is
that they were convinced, in ways that their older peers
were not, of the value of the White Man’s Road. Not only
did they farm, the first major indicator of civilization,
but in nearly every aspect of their lives they reflected the
lessons of Pratt and their teachers. Despite some "lapses",
as a group they accepted civilization, and they spent their
lives as they understood civilization required. While none
of them became especially prosperous, all of them lived

fairly well by Indian standards, an indication of the

225

usefulness of their training and of their dedication to
their work. None of them chose to leave the reservation (to
be civilized in civilization), and they continued to
participate in the events which confirmed their identity as
Indians such as dances and feasts, but they held to their
new way as best they could. They were so successful at
being civilized that they were noticed by Whites, who put
them on Indian Honor Rolls and praised them to both Indians
and Whites. Significantly, several were also honored and
praised by other Indians, most notably Roman Nose, Little
Chief, and Ohettoint, for their efforts to ”live right” and
help others. Pratt had actually achieved a deep and lasting
change in these men: his methods (removal from home,
military discipline, kindness, vocational and linguistic

education) had proven themselves.

226

Chapter 7

Conclusions

The history of the prisoners at Fort Marion permits
analysis of culture change in several ways. First, it is
possible to study the individual decisions of each man--to
see how his own life changed--and then to aduce an aggregate
pattern by studying the men as a group. By comparing both
the individual and collective changes to the patterns
discovered for the general reservation population, it is
possible to clearly see the impact of Fort Marion in
conditioning the lives of these men. Second, it is possible
to determine, within limits, whether the ex-prisoners
influenced, or tried to influence, other Indians to change
as they had changed--to see whether they were agents of
culture change. Finally, it is possible to test certain
aspects of anthropological theory regarding culture change,
and its special case acculturation, on the basis of the
data.

Acculturation was earlier defined as a process
"whereby the culture of a society is modified as the result
of contact with the culture of one or more societies."

(Gillin and Raimy, 1940: 372.) For American Indians, this

227

process has most often been viewed as a one way development:
White culture traits have been imposed upon Indians, have
replaced Indian culture traits, but White culture has been
little affected. Frequently, the process has been viewed as
exclusively destructive and damaging to Indians and to their
cultures. This study allows us to examine these
propositions, while also overcoming the weaknesses of
acculturation analysis limited to either the individual or
societial (cultural systems) level by combining the two
approaches. Finally, the study permits testing of the
adaptive strategies theoretical model as both more
descriptively accurate and of better explanatory value than
more traditional acculturation theory. (See Introduction.)
The most immediate conclusion to be drawn from the
lives of the Fort Marion prisoners is that their years in
prison did, indeed, affect them. Twenty-two of the seventy-
four (29%; 48% of the fifty-seven who survived the prison)
chose not to return home upon their release in 1878, but
stayed in the east for further education. Without their
initial Fort Marion exposure to White culture, certainly
none of them would have chosen, or had the opportunity for,
such a decision. After their additional schooling at
Hampton and Carlisle, or in New York, the students returned
to Indian Territory. There, despite the fact that they
retained their ethnic Indian identities, most of these men

lived quite progressive lives by the standards of their

228

reservation peers. They lived, as much as circumstances
permitted, as they had been taught, working hard to support
themselves and their families, using their new skills,
seeking both White and Indian approval. While several did
retreat from full progressivism, especially Christianity, in
the face of peer pressure and disappointments, only two
entirely abandoned their new “civilized" lifestyles. For
the most part, these men were outstanding examples of the
Indian types White authorities sought to create.

The other thirty-five ex-prisoners, mostly older
warriors, who returned directly to Indian Territory from
Fort Marion were less profoundly affected over the duration
of their lives, but they were nonetheless changed. They
returned prepared to try the new lives that Pratt had spoken
of, and for several years, they persisted in their efforts.
However, reservation conditions--a curtailment of Indian
employment and the emergence of a powerful resistance
movement--blocked the attempts of most of the Cheyennes.
They merged back into the reservation population and lived
conservatively for the rest of their lives. On the other
hand, the Kiowas and Comanches found an atmosphere more
conducive to their new way of life, and they were able to
create a combination of new economic behavior and
traditional culture. While they were far more progressive
than their reservation peers in their farming/ranching, they

were indistinguishable from other Indians in their

229

religious, marriage, and family practices. Fort Marion had
provided for them the skills-~primarily an understanding of
White behavior and methods-~to live well, but Pratt had not
convinced them to embrace the ideology and culture of White
American society.

Thus, Pratt’s former charges were changed by their
experience at Fort Marion, even if that change varied with
the ages of the men and the conditions they found on their
reservations. Did that change reach beyond these men? Did
they, by preaching or example, get others to live
differently? Certainly some of the men--the mission trained
scholars and Buffalo Meat, the Christian older warrior--
viewed themselves as agents of change. They had been
taught, or called, to proselytize, not just for Christianity
but for the whole of ”civilization." For the most part,
they failed. The Kiowa missionaries met with such forceful
resistance that they gave up not only preaching but their
own Christianity, as well. Etahdleuh gave up his life. The
Cheyenne missionary, David Pendleton, was more successful
and spent his life at his work, but he preached in mostly
progressive areas. His congregations were always small, and
the total number of Christian Cheyennes was tiny well into
the twentieth century. Buffalo Meat, who became a Christian
in the 1890’s, had a similarly small impact.

If the conscious proselytizers had little impact,

what of the ”examples of civilization?" Did those who

230

actively used their Fort Marion or school-learned skills
entice others to live as they did? The evidence for such an
impact is impressionistic and sketchy at this point.
Confirmation would require much more additional research on
the lives of the kin and associates of the ex-prisoners,
beyond the scope of this study. But it is nonetheless
possible to suggest that many of the more progressive ex-
prisoners were agents of change. First, their influence on
their own relatives is undeniable. At a time when less than
half of the reservation children attended even the first
three primary grades, the children of these men attended
school as long as seven years. Of the sixteen surviving
young scholars and nineteen moderate or progressive older
warriors, eleven sent relatives to Carlisle. (Compiled from
Appendix B.) The children of these men became a significant
segment of the educated reservation population. They also
tended to follow their fathers’ leads in work, taking over
farm duties as the men aged or assuming their full support.
The children were not the only relatives affected,
however. Roman Nose’s father opened a farm, as did
Etahdleuh’s brother. Etahdleuh’s brother-in-law was Chief
Apiatone, who debunked the Ghost Dance to the Kiowas.
Little Medicine, the Dog Soldier leader who nevertheless
took his allotment at Seger Colony (a relatively progressive
area), was David Pendleton’s father. Systematic analysis of

additional family data would undoubtedly uncover even more

231

cases, but these suggest the impact of these men upon their
kin. (See biographies, Appendix B.)

The progressives had an impact on Indians unrelated
to them, as well. While progressives tended to live among
and associate with other progressives, it is clear that
several of the progressive Fort Marion ex-prisoners had a
wider influence. They became important men, leaders not
only of progressives but of their tribes. Tischecoddy,
Black Horse, Ohettoint, Little Chief, and Buffalo Meat were
band heads or sub-chiefs. Roman Nose became Chief of the
Southern Cheyenne. The status which these men attained is
somewhat problematic. The question remains whether they
were leaders because of their achievements (results of their
Fort Marion experiences) or because of their family and
community ties, or some combination of the two. Clearly, at
least Roman Nose achieved his position because of his
service to his people, using his new skills. However they
reached their leadership positions, the men could serve
their tribesmen, and they could also influence them. Those
who belonged to their bands sent proportionately more
children to school and tended to farm more than members of
other bands. (CaA and Kiow Censuses, 1880-1900, OHSIA.)
That these men, who lived such progressive lives, were so
respected is in itself a convincing indication of their
influence even though it is not possible to say precisely

how widespread or profound that influence was. Probably,

232

the overall course of culture change on the two reservations
was not dramatically altered by their presence--they were
few in number, and their followers were only a fraction of
the population--but they undeniably influenced many of their
peers.

The implications of these findings for the analysis
of culture change are substantial, especially when they are
placed in the context of the changes taking place among the
reservation population. Between 1875 and the early
twentieth century, the cultures of the Indians of the two
reservations changed enormously. The classic buffalo
hunting patterns of subsistence and warfare ended forever,
and the people gradually developed means of support based on
annuities and/or rents and small scale wage earning or
gardening. At the same time as this huge economic change
took place, the people elaborated a set of new pan-tribal
institutions, including dancing for horses and the peyote
religion, which reinforced their identities as Indians and
provided important emotional support in handling their
common reservation conditions. Finally, older tribal
traditions were also maintained in areas such as language,
marriage, leadership, band and family structure--ties to the
past which preserved tribal distinctiveness, tribal
ethnicity. Although the contents of that tribal ethnicity
differed from group to group, the changes insisted upon by

Whites-- farming, Christianity, the nuclear family, the

233

abandonment of tribal and "Indian“ ideas and practices--were
limited to a small minority and very slow in developing.
Ethnicity limited the degree of acculturation.

Thus, while the Indian cultures changed, becoming
more similar and adapting to reservation conditions, those
changes were not those which some theories of acculturation
might predict. While the Indians did stop hunting and
warfare in the face of the extermination of game and of
superior force, they did not replace these "culture traits"
with White methods of subsistence. Rather, they took
advantage of or discovered other methods which suited their
values but not those of Whites bent on ”civilizing" Indians.
As the basis of their cultures disappeared, it is not
surprising that other aspects of those cultures also
changed, especially the religions which had supported the
old activities. But the Sun Dance and power quest did not
give way to Christianity. Instead, a new religion,
distinctly Indian but especially suited to the new
circumstances, emerged.

In short, the Indian people responded creatively to
their changing lives, not passively. They remained Indian
(preserved their ethnic boundaries--Barth, 1969) and chose
from White culture only those things which seemed to offer
clear benefits: limited use of money, a familiarity with
English, certain aspects of clothing and shelter, foods. In

the sense of acculturation so often used in describing

234

Indians, these Indians did not markedly acculturate. While
by the early twentieth century they were very different than
they had been in 1875, they were hardly "less Indian" than
they had been in 1875. Notions of ”forced acculturation,’l
or typologies of ”degree of acculturation" neither describe
nor explain the changes which took place. (See
Introduction.)

It is much more productive to view these changes
from the perspective of the concept of adaptive strategies,
choices and plans devised by individuals and groups in
response to their historical, cultural, and environmental
situation. (Introduction.) Whites believed that the range
of choices available to Indians in Indian Territory during
this period was severely limited: either the old ways and
death from starvation, or White ways and survival. In fact,
the range of choices was quite different. Most Indian
people recognised that the old life was simply no longer
possible, but they recognised that other options existed
besides those demanded by Whites. Operating within a
traditionally Indian value system, it was possible to devise
new ways to survive while maintaining as much as possible of
the older social structure and behavior. (Introduction:
ethnicity.) Drawing on older traditions, new institutions
could emerge to fit the new economic and settlement patterns
while preserving old ideologies. As I hypothesized earlier

(Introduction.), the peoples of the South Plains retained as

235

much as possible of their old cultures and selectively,
consciously changed those areas which required change. They
did incorporate aspects of White culture in their adaptive
strategy, but until the twentieth century, those aspects
were quite limited: more were unnecessary. Profound
acculturation did not take place.

But what of the Fort Marion prisoners? Many of them
may surely be described as "acculturated,” even assimilated,
having abandoned Indian behavior and values for White, if to
varying degrees. While it is true that certain categories
of acculturation theory may describe the ex-prisoners--
traditional vs. progressive definitions, for example-~the
adaptive strategies model nevertheless provides a more
complete explanation. First, it adequately answers the
question of the variation of response among the prisoners.
In fact, it would predict that variation. Each person makes
his own choices and decisions. It is the collective pattern
of these decisions which we view as culture or cultural
change. Each prisoner, starting from his learned cultural
base, chose his own "road.“ While each of those roads was
slightly different, overall clear patterns developed because
of the prisoners' common cultural heritage and shared
experiences.

The adaptive strategies model also explains the
differences among those patterns. We have seen that the

younger scholars adapted differently from the older

236

warriors, and that older Cheyenne warriors adapted
differently from the Kiowa and Comanche. The model easily
accomodates these differences by taking into account age
variations, including the very different experiences of the
older and younger men (Fort Marion treatment, schooling) in
the first instance, and reservation conditions in the
second. The adaptive strategies concept predicts that
behavior--and culture change--are conservative. People will
continue to act in the vernacular of their usual cultures
until overwhelming evidence convinces them to change.
Certainly older men, accustomed to their values through
years of hardship and war, and resuming their older roles in
an only slightly changed culture, would be slow to see the
value of marked change. Once back on the reservation, they
would be expected to live as their peers did. The limits
placed on their behavior by their ethnicity would be quite
broad. Young men, less attached by experience or
expectation to their old cultures, could more easily see the
virtue of a1ternatives--even alternatives from an enemy
culture. Placed in the intensive acculturative atmosphere
of the schools they attended, outside their ethnic group
where limits could be enforced, they could more readily
choose the path of civilization. In fact, they would be
expected to experiment with alternatives; the presence of a
profoundly conservative youth would actually be surprising.

If the older men could therefore be predicted to

237

behave more conservatively than the younger ones, the older
Cheyennes could also be predicted to behave more
conservatively than the Kiowas and Comanches because of the
presence of a powerful conservative organization on their
reservation. Because of the tight organization among the
Cheyenne, and the men's resumption of their former roles,
that conservative movement severely limited their range of
choices, while the Kiowa and Comanche range was much
broader.

It can be seen that in fact the variations in the
content of the ethnicity of an ethnic group constitute a
variable in the adaptive strategies acculturation model. As
Barth (1969) has pointed out, each ethnic group creates
different limits on behavior in the process of maintaining
its boundaries. The specifics of Cheyenne ethnicity, which
placed great restrictions on individual Cheyenne behavior,
were different from the specifics of Kiowa and Comanche
ethnicity, which permitted relatively greater independence
of action, especially in the economic sphere.

Acculturation is then a special kind of adaptive
strategy: the choice within an ethnic context to adopt
aspects of a new culture while changing or retaining aspects
of the old. It is not a ”transmission belt," by which one
culture passes to and replaces another, but a process of
selection. It is not a process by which a new culture is

imposed upon a receiving people, but a process by which

238

people redesign an older culture, incorporating elements of
the new. The culture they create will be more or less like
the new or the old culture depending on historical
circumstances and the permeability of their ethnic
boundaries.

This model helps us to understand why the conscious
agents of acculturation among the Fort Marion prisoners--the
missionaries--failed, while the unconscious agents of
acculturation--the examples of civilization--met with some
success. The missionaries wanted to be part of a
transmission belt, imparting the new culture whatever the
desires or needs of the recipients. Not surprisingly, they
were met with resistance. The adaptive strategies model
postulates conservatism, and conditions on the reservations
did not require that the people immediately adopt all of
White culture, especially its ideology, in order to survive.
The examples of civilization, however, simply demonstrated
new kinds of behavior which observers could chose or not.
They broadened the range of choices, without an element of
coercion. Since they were not proselytizers, their
influence was largely limited to their immediate associates,
but they could influence those adaptive strategies. Their
skills, especially, did offer better ways to live, as their
greater survival rate suggests.

This analysis suggests, then, that individuals may

play a role in a group’s culture change/acculturation, if to

239

a limited degree. Certainly, it seems clear that they do
not lead groups of people into a totally new lifestyle:
missionaries, whether foreign or native, are not successful.
However, individuals may provide examples of successful
adaptation to changed conditions. So long as they continue
to function within the generally accepted community social
institutions--religion, marriage, family structure,
political organization--they may offer new ways of living
better. As we have seen, because such individuals do
function as ordinary members of their communities (even
leaders are ordinary if they develop in the usual ways),
their lives reflect the persistence of traditional values
even as they demonstrate new adaptations. Other members of
the community are more ready to accept their new ideas
because of their proper ethnic context, and that context
itself slows or moderates the extent and degree of the
changes those others may make. Barth has postulated that
"agents of change" may choose from three strategies in a
culture contact situation.

(i) they may attempt to pass and become
incorporated in the pre-established industrial
society and cultural group; (ii) they may accept a
’minority’ status, accommodate to and seek to reduce
their minority disabilities by encapsulating all
cultural differentiae in sectors of non-
articulation, while participating in the larger
system of the industrialized group in the other
sectors of activity; (iii) they may choose to
emphasize ethnic identity, using it to develop new
positions and patterns to organize activities in

those sectors formerly not found in their society,
or inadequately developed for the new purposes.

240

In the first strategy, the individuals cross the ethnic
boundary-—no change occurs within their group. In the
second and third, change does occur. I would argue that
most former prisoners I have classed as moderate or
progressive chose the second strategy, while the third
strategy was initially adopted by their tribesmen,
especially the Cheyenne. Barth points out that the second
leads to gradually decreasing ethnic differences--to some
degree of acculturation--while the third results in
nativistic movements like the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.
(Barth, 1969: 33.)

Acculturation at the societal level, therefore, is
deeply imbedded in traditional values and institutions: in
ethnicity. In an apparent paradox only those individuals
who continue to function within that context can propose
changes, and their impact will be limited and gradual. Only
as the institutions themselves change, as large numbers of
people adopt new ways, does acculturation accelerate. Such
widespread changes are the result of dramatically changed
circumstances affecting the community uniformly, not the
result of the impact of the leadership of one or more
individuals.

Finally, the Fort Marion prisoners' lives have
offered a classic opportunity to observe and measure culture
change in a historical context. It has been possible,

because of the wealth of archival materials, to discover in

241

some detail how these men lived, and to examine changes not
only in their lifestyles, but in the cultures of their
tribes. The measurement of that change has been possible
because a base culture could be defined: the remembered
life of nomadic buffalo hunting described in Chapter 2.
That culture itself existed only briefly, but nonetheless
was the foundation from which these men emerged. A
”yardstick" against which to measure the culture change
which took place was "The White Man’s Road'-- that complex
of values and behavior which White authorities expected
Indians to follow. It included especially farming,
Christianity, and the nuclear family but also encompassed
clothing, language, settlement pattern and a range of other
behavior described in Chapter 4. The remarkable records
maintained by agency personnel and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs permitted measurement of the lives of both the
prisoners and their peers against this yardstick, since the
record keepers were concerned with exactly thses issues and
noted both individual anecdotes and collected statistics.

Of course, care had to be used in making these
measurements. Because of their own ethnocentricity, record
keepers often evaluated behavior which they observed as
simply "heathen" while a modern scholar might view it as a
marked departure from earlier patterns. They also
categorized as ”failures" people who refused to adopt the

White Man’s Road in every aspect while that same scholar

242

would see them as strong progressives, omitting perhaps only
religion or marriage from their complex of changes. Thus,
in this analysis, great attention has been paid to
distinguishing real from ideal behavior, agents’ or matrons’
prejudices from descriptions of actual life.

Additionally, sensitivity to changes outside the
White Man’s Road had to be maintained. As we have seen,
culture change in Indian Territory did not follow the simple
Indian-to-White pattern. The records were thus read with an
eye to noting new developments-—most often complained of by
authorities as “traditional" ceremonies or practices--that
indicated culture change in a direction other than towards
civilization. Whenever agents and others complained often
about a behavior, it was reported from many areas, and large
numbers of people were reported as participating, it was
viewed as an actual phenomenon.

Thus, as long as attention is paid to the
ethnocentric biases of record keepers and the records are
read with an openness to all kinds of changes, the records
available for nineteenth century Indian reservations provide
a wealth of information for anthropologists. Their
surprising failure to use those records (to any substantial
degree) is undoubtedly due to limited training in the
archival methods of the social historian and to the act of
imagination required to achieve this special kind of

observation. Anthropologists expect to personally observe

243

behavior; for long-dead subjects, they must reconstruct that
behavior from fragmentary evidence. It takes work and time
to fit the pieces together, but the outcome is gratifying.
The story of the Fort Marion prisoners and their tribesmen

is only one example of the possible results.

APPENDICES

244

APPENDIX A

List of Indians

\DQQO‘ U'l fiWN H
0

HF‘
sec
0 O

PHH
one
C

14.

15.
16.
17.
18.
19.

20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

33.

Cheyennes

Heap of Birds.
Oc tobe'r' 9", '1_877 .
Egar Shield. Chief.
Eagle's Head. Minimic.
Medicine Water. Warrior.
deliberate murder.
Long Back. Subchief.
girls.
White Man.
Rising Bull.
Broken Leg.
Bgar's Heart. Warrior.
Star. Warrior.
Howling Wolf.
Ringleader.
Making Medicine.
Antelope. Warrior.
Wolf's Marrow.
Ringleader. Age 49.
Little Medicine. Chief.
Shave Head. Warrior.
Roman Nose. Warrior.
31g Nose. Warrior.
Squint Eyes.
Age 20. Ringleader.
Little Chief. Warrior.
Matches. Warrior. Age
Bgffalo Meat. Warrior.
Buzzard. Warrior. Age
Soaring Eagle. Warrior.
Bgar Killer. Nocomista.
Ringleader.
Left Hand. Warrior.
Chief Killer.
Buffalo Calf.
Murder.
Gray Beard. Chief.
the train. Ringleader.
Big Moccasin.Warrior.
Egan Bear. Chief.
Shaving Wolf. Warrior.
Ringleader.

Spotted Elk.

 

 

 

 

Warrior.
Warrior.
Cohoe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mochi.

 

 

 

 

Warrior.

Chief. Age 49.

Age 45.
Chief.

Age 53.

Age 24.
Age 30.
Warrior.
Age 26.
Age 29.
Warrior (Minimic's son.)

Warrior.
Age 39.
Come-uh-

Age 23.

Age 22.
Age 22.
Quch-ke-i-mus.

Age 32.
Warrior. Age 28.
Wife of Medicine Water.

Died in November, 1875.
Died July, 1875.
Died December, 1876.

Ringleader. Died
Killed Watkins.

Age 50. Ringleader.
Age 40. Wilful and
Held and abused Germain

(Murderer.)
(Murderer.)

Age 24. (Murderer.)

(Murderer.)

No offense.

Age 27.

Age 33. Ringleader.
Ringleader.
su-rah. (Cometsevah) Warrior.
Age 35. Ringleader.
Ringleader.
Ringleader.
Ringleader.
(Tichekematse) Warrior.
Age 23. Ringleader.
21. Ringleader.
Age 30. Ringleader.
22. Ringleader.
Age 26. Murder.
Warrior. Age 33.

Murder.
Murder and abduction.
Age 34.

Died in 1875 when he jumped from

Murder.
Ringleader.

Died January, 1877.

34.
35.

36.

37.
38.
39.
40.

41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
S4.

55.

245

Ringleader.

Arapahoes

Packer. Warrior. Age 26. Murder.
White Bear. Warrior. Age 25. Attempted murder.

Caddo

Choctaw. Leader. Age 49. Murder.

 

Kiowas

Woman's Heart. Chief. Raids, murder.
White Horse. Chief. Raids, murder.
Beef. Wo-haw. Warrior. Age 22. Murder.

 

 

Bad Eye. Ta-na-ti. Leader. Age 43. Raids

 

and murder.

Double Vision. So-gau-se. Chief. Age 62.

Murder.

Bear-in-the Clouds. Sa-a-mi-a-da. Leader. Age 48.
Murder.

Lone WOlf. Chief. Age 55. Raids and murder.
Biter. Zotom. Warrior. Age 24. Murder.

Ankle. On-ko-eht. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 28.
Murder.

High Forehead. Ohet-toint. Warrior (Mexican.)
Murder.

Bo . E-tah-dle-uh. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 21.
Rai 5.

Toothless. Zo-pe-he. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 45.
Murder.

White Goose. Tash-dle-tah. Warrior. Age 30. Murder.
Teeth. Zone-ke-uh. Warrior. Age 20. Raids.

gig Man. Beah-ko. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 38. Theft.
Good TaIk. To-un-ke-uh. Warrior. Age 19. Raids.
Wild Horse. Ko-ba. Warrior. Age 29. Raids.

Flat Nose. Mau-ko-peh. Warrior. Age 21. Horse
theft.

Wise. Au-lih. Warrior. Age 28. Murder,raids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

246

56. Kicking. Ko-ho. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 27. Raids.

57. Bull with Holes lg His Ears. To-o-sape (Pautausape.)
Warrior(Mexican.) Age 45. Murder, raids.

58. Bgar Mountain. Tsait-kope-ta. Warrior (Cheyenne-
Pawnee.) Age 25. Raids.

59. Pedro. Warrior (Mexican.) Age 48. Murder, raids.

60. gtraightening 23 Arrow. Warrior. Died October, 1875.
Raids.

61. Sun. Warrior. Died May, 1875. Murder.

62. Coming 29 the Grove. Ah-ke-ah. Warrior. Murder.

63. Man-who-walks-above-the-Ground. Mah-mante. Chief.
Died July, 1875. Murder and raids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comanches

64. Buck Antelope. Eck-e-nah-ats. Warrior (Mexican.) Age
31. Raids.

65. ng Wood. Wy-a-ko. Warrior (part Mexican.) Age 30.
Raids.

66. Black Horse. Chief. Age 46. Murder.

67. Mad-a-with-t. Warrior. Age 26. Died July, 1877.
Raids.

68. Telling Something. Ta-a-way-te. Warrior. Age 22.
Raids.

69. Tail Feathers. Pe-eh-chip. Warrior. Age 25. Raids.

70. Always-Sitting-Down-in-a-Bad-Place. Tis-cha-kah-da.
Warrior. Age 31. Raids.

71. Pile g; Rocks. Quoi-yo-uh. Warrior. Age 46. Horse
theft.

72. Little Prairie Hill. Pa-voor-ite. Warrior (Mexican.)
Age 42. Horse theft.

73. Mother. Peahin. Wife of Black Horse.

74. Ah-kes. Daughter of Black Horse, age 9.

 

 

 

 

Adapted from the prisoner list which Pratt sent to the
Smithsonian Institution in February, 1878. Descriptions of
crimes have been abridged. Indian names have been included
for those individuals who used them consistently after
their release from Fort Marion. (Pratt, 1964: 138-44.)

247

APPENDIX B

Prisoner Biographies

 

"Antelope“

The Cheyenne Antelope was born about 1839. At the
time of his arrest in 1875, he was married and had two
children. He was not charged with any specific crimes.
Pratt believed he was ”worthy” of release in 1877. On the
reservation after his release in 1878, Antelope worked as a
policeman until 1882, and as a scout in 1881. He hauled
freight in 1885 and 1886. He had two wives by 1880 and was
a band head throughout the 1880‘s. His son, renamed Abe
Lincoln, attended Carlisle from 1879 to 1880, when he died.
Antelope received his allotment near Seger Colony among the
first allottees. He died about 1893. (Pratt to Miles,
10/18/79, C&A Indian Prisoners File; Pratt to Miles, C&A
Carlisle File; C&A Census, 1878-1894; C&A Freight and
Transportation File, 1881, 1885, 1886; C&A Employees, 1878-
1889; C&A Police, 1878-1889; OHSIA. C&A Allotment Schedule,
1891, Concho. C&A Annuities, 1893, 1894; C&A Allotment

Records, NA.)

"Aulih"

Aulih was born about 1847, and he was unmarried at
the time of his arrest in 1875. He was accused of

participating with Lone WOlf and Mahmante in murders and

248

raids and in a robbery. He may have been a policeman
briefly after his return in 1878; a man called "Wise”, the
English equivalent of his name, served until he was
discharged because of a disability. Aulih accepted farming
issues in 1881 and 1883, but he was not among those the
agent described as doing well in 1879. He disappeared from
the records about 1883, and may have died at about that
time. (Smithsonian list, 1878, #55; Kiowa Police File,
Vbucher, July 2, 1879; Kiowa Issues, 3/31/81 and 1883; Kiowa
Census, 1878-1883. OHSIA.)

"Beahko"

Beahko was a Kiowa born about 1839. He was married
and had two children at the time of his arrest in 1875. His
step-son was his fellow prisoner Tsaitkopeta. He was
accused of robbery. Upon his return to the reservation, he
began a farm on Hog Creek, and the agent listed him among
those doing well in 1879. Beahko farmed most of the rest of
his life, but he leased his allotment between 1903 and 1908.
Beahko had at least two wives, but none survived him. He
left $277.96 in his estate at his death in 1910. (Kiowa
Issues, 1880-1890; Freight and Transportation File, 1883,
1889; Kiowa Carpenters File, August, 1880; Per Capita File:
Report of Wm. Wyatt, 6/28/90, Kiowa Farmers File; Hunt to
Pratt, 2/12/79, RA 8, Vbl. 7, LS, Kiowa Agency. OHSIA.

Kiowa-Comanche Family Record Book, #‘s 1327, 59, 653, 617,

249

1821; Kiowa Allotment File, #617, Anadarko. Kiowa Leases,

Vbl. 1901-1906, #229, OHSIA.)
"Bear's Heart”

The Cheyenne Bear's Heart was born about 1852, and
he had no wife or children at the time of his arrest in
1875. He was accused of murder by two other Cheyennes. At
Carlisle, Bear's Heart was a prolific artist. He went to
Hampton Institute as the protege of Mrs. William Smith Brown
of New York City and took the first name James. While at
Hampton, he was considered a model student, and he trained
to be a carpenter. He returned to his reservation in April
of 1881 because of his worsening tuberculosis, and he died
in January, 1882. (Smithsonian prisoner list, #9.
Petersen, 1971: 98-109. C&A Employees File, 1881-82,

OHSIA.)
"Bear Shield"

Bear Shield was a Cheyenne born about 1832. He was
already an important man at the time of his arrest in 1875,
and he was accused of murder. In 1876, he sent a message
home to his wife:
My ears are very large now. I want a house to
live in, like the others. Tell my wife I am well
and get well fed here. She must not think

hard...All I think now is that I want to learn to
plant corn.

250

Pratt said he was "the last Cheyenne to fall into the
traces,” but that he trusted him after his imprisonment.
After his release, Bear Shield was reported to be a stock
raiser (1880), but the evidence does not indicate that he
stayed with it or that he became a farmer. He hauled
freight occassionally during the 1880's. By 1880, he had
two wives, and he was a band head during most of the 1880's.
In 1885, one of his sons attended the Cantonment school.
Although he lived among the conservatives during the 1880's,
Bear Shield apparently took his allotment near Seger colony
(the records are very confused on this point.) He died in
January, 1894. (Smithsonian list #2. Pratt to Miles,
1/3/76 and 4/5/77, C&A Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA. C&A
Census, 1878—1895; C&A Freight and Transportation File,

1879-1886. OHSIA. C&A Allotment Schedule, 1890, Concho.)

“Big Nose”

Big Nose was a Cheyenne born about 1856. He was
unmarried at the time of his arrest and was accused of no
specific crimes. At Fort Marion, he was an artist. He went
to Hampton as a protege of Mrs. Joseph Larocque (New York
City) who had befriended him at the fort, sending him gifts
such as gold rings. At Fort Marion, Big Nose took the name
Nick, and at Hampton, he added Pratt. He died of
"congestion of the liver with heart trouble'' at Hampton in

1879. (Smithsonian list, #18. Petersen, 1971: 164, 238.

251

Ohettoint to Miles, 1879, PP. Armstrong to Miles, 6/2/79,

CaA Hampton File, OHSIA.)

"Black Horse”

At the time of his arrest in 1875, the Comanche
Black Horse was a recognised chief and had at least one wife
and child, who accompanied him to Fort Marion. He was
accused of murder. At Fort Marion, he and his family were
frequent subjects for photographers. Upon his release and
return to Indian Territory, Black Horse started a farm which
he steadily expanded during the 1880's. He had three wives
by 1883, but he sent at least three of his children to
school (1890's). He was a band head throughout the period,
and he took progressive positions, favoring leasing in the
1880's and 1890's. He died before allotment in 1900.
(Smithsonian list, #66. Kiowa Census, 1878-1900; Kiowa
Hides, Blacksmith, Farmers, Issues, Cattle Pasture and
Grazing Files, OHSIA. Kiowa Allotment Family Record Book,

Anadarko.)

"Buck Antelope”

Buck Antelope was a Comanche born about 1846. He
was said to be unmarried when he was arrested in 1875 and
accused of raiding in Texas, horse theft. He was a Mexican
captive of the Comanches who lived as a full member of the

tribe. After his return from Fort Marion, he worked twenty-

252

two days at the agency as a laborer and quit. The agent
said he was "tired of work.” He disappeared from the
records after 1879. (Smithsonian prisoner list, #64. Kiowa

Employees File, 11/1/79, OHSIA.)

”Buffalo Meat"

Buffalo Meat was a Cheyenne who was born about 1848.
At the time of his arrest, he was married and had one child.
He was not accused of a specific crime. At Fort Marion, he
was an artist, and he made a price list of items which the
Indians could purchase in St. Augustine with the proceeds of
their work. After his return to the reservation, Buffalo
Meat worked as a policeman, millhand, laborer, commissary
worker, and teamster. He became a very prominent man,
participating in delegations to Washington and as Deacon of
his Baptist church. He was recognised as a chief of the
Cheyennes, and he was leader of a dance society. He had
only one wife at a time, although he was married twice. His
children were educated, and his son Raymond was cited as a
very progressive Indian by the agent. His daughter Leila
Jones attended Carlsle from 1882 to 1884. In his old age,
Buffalo Meat leased his allotment. He died in 1917.
(Smithsonian prisoner list, #22. C&A Census, 1878-1918; C&A
Employees, 1878-1889; C&A Frieght and Transportation, 1883-
1889; CsA Police, 1878; C&A Indian Dances File, 1907; CaA

Churches File, especially 1905; CsA Indian Improvement File.

253

OHSIA. C&A Allotment File #444, Concho. Petersen, 1971:
228.)
”Buzzard"
Buzzard, Cheyenne, was born about 1856. He was

unmarried at the time of his arrest in 1875 and was arrested
arbitrarily. At Fort Marion, he is known to have been an
artist. Buzzard attended Hampton Institute as the protege
of Mrs. Howard Charlton and Mrs. Sara Charlton, and he took
the name Howard Charlton in their honor. He was baptised at
Hampton in March, 1879. Buzzard transferred to Carlisle in
1879 and returned to Indian Territory in January, 1880,
where he died almost immediately. (Smithsonian list, #23.
Petersen, 1971: 232-33. C&A Census, 1880; Pratt to Miles,

1/20/80, C&A Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA.)

”Chief Killer"

The Cheyenne Chief Killer was born about 1850 and
was married at the time of his arrest in 1875. He was
accused of murder and kidnapping. At Fort Marion, he was an
artist. Back on the reservation after 1878, Chief Killer
worked as a laborer, herder, butcher, and brickmaker in the
early 1880's, but after the mid 1880's, he did only
occassional freighting. Most of his life, he lived among
the conservatives near Cantonment. Chief Killer's daughter

Maud went to Carlisle in 1887, and his other children were

254

educated. Chief Killer was often in debt in his later
years, and he had to sell his inherited land in order to
raise cash. There is no evidence that he was an active
farmer. His step-father was the prisoner Medicine Water.
He died in 1922. (Smithsonian list. Petersen, 1971: 234.
C&A Census, 1878-1910: C&A Per Capita File, 1897: C&A Police
File, 1878; C&A Employees, 1878-1889; C&A Freight and
Transportation, 1880- 1888; C&A Allotment Schedule; OHSIA.
C&A Allotment and Estate Records, Concho. C&A Cantonment
Files, Individual Indians, Chief Killer, Old Coffee Woman,

Naomi Chief Killer, OHSIA.)

”Cohoe”

Cohoe was a Cheyenne born about 1854. He was
arrested for murder in 1875, when he was already married.
His wife's sister's husband was Little Chief, another
prisoner. At Fort Marion, Cohoe was an artist. Cohoe
attended Hampton, where he was baptised "Cohoe” in March,
1879. He transferred to Carlisle in 1879 and returned to
his reservation in March, 1880. At Darlington, he worked
variously as a millhand, teamster, baker, brickmaker,
butcher, and scout. He went to work as a store clerk for a
local trader, and worked in that capacity for six years. He
served as a scout in 1885. During the 1890's, he began
farming, and he farmed for the rest of his life. Cohoe used

the given name William during this period. Although he was

255

a progressive, he took his allotment near Cantonment, and he
had two wives for a time. Cohoe became a very prominent
man, serving on at least one delegation to Washington and as
head of the War Dancers' Society. He was listed on the
Cheyenne Honor Roll in 1907. At his death in 1924, he left
his allotment and $2,210 in property. His children were
educated. (Record of Graduates and Returned Students,
12/15/1910, Carlisle Student Records, NA. A Cheyenne

Sketchbook by Cohoe, commentary by E. Adamson Hoebel and

 

Karen Daniels Petersen, 1964. Smithsonian list, #8. Pratt
to Miles, 1/20/80, CEA Indian Prisoners File; C&A Scouts,
1885, 1887; C&A Employees, 1880, 1881, 1882; C&A Freight and
Transportation, 1884; C&A Census, 1878-1909; Miscellaneous
Cantonment Records, 1907, List of Cheyenne males; C&A
Estates, 1908; OHSIA. Cheyenne Allotment File #1936,

Concho.)
”Cometsevah"

Cometsevah was a Cheyenne born about 1828. His
brother was Medicine Water. At the time of his arrest in
1875, he was married and had four children. He was not
charged with a specific crime. He was not present on the
list of returned prisoners in 1878, but apparently served as
a policeman in 1878. It is likely that Cometsevah died in
1878 or 1879 and that his nephew assumed his name in his

honor. (Smithsonian list, #14. C&A Police File, 1878,

256

OHSIA. C&A Allotment File #788, Concho.)

"Etahdleuh"

Etahdleuh Doanmoe was the Kiowa prisoner who
achieved the position of Pratt's favorite. He was born
about 1857 and was a Mexican captive of the Kiowa. At the
time of his arrest, accused of raiding with Lone Wolf, he
was an unmarried youth. At Fort Marion, he was an artist,
an archery instructor, and Pratt's quartermaster sergeant.
He was an avid student of both English and Christianity. He
was a popular entertainer at local "entertainments."
Etahdleuh went to Hampton in 1878 and was baptised in March,
1879. In the same year, he made a recruiting trip for
Pratt's new school at Carlisle, and he transferred to
Carlisle in October. In 1880, he worked at the Smithsonian
Institute. In 1881, he served as Pratt's disciplinarian at
a salary of $35 per month, including clothing and board. At
Hampton and Carlisle, his patron was Mrs. Quincy Shaw of
Boston. In 1882, Etahdleuh married his sweetheart Laura, a
Kiowa student he had recruited, in an elaborate ceremony at
Carlisle. He made two brief attempts to return to his
reservation in 1882-3 and 1887, working as an interpreter,
school helper, and farmer, but he returned to Carlisle each
time because of ill health. He returned to Anadarko for the
last time in 1888 to work as a Presbyterian minister. He

died suddenly in April, 1888, after other Kiowas warned him

257

that his activities in behalf of civilization were
unacceptablel His funeral, at which women practiced self-
mutilation and animals and property were destroyed, enraged
the local missionary who wrote Pratt to report it. Pratt
protested this ”savage” practice to the agent. Etahdleuh's
widow returned to Carlisle for another year with their son
who had been born at the school. Later in her life, she
married a White man, William Pedrick. Her brother, Chief
Apiatone, visited the prophet Wovoka during the Ghost Dance
craze, and returned to denounce the new religion.
(Smithsonian list, #47. Petersen, 1971: 135-159. Carlisle
Student Records, #1359, NA. Interview with J.J. Methvin,

Indian Pioneer History, V01. 36: 112-116, 100-101, Grant

 

Foreman Collection, OHSIA. Various correspondence, Kiowa
Carlisle File, OHSIA, especially Methvin to Pratt, 4/22/88,

and Pratt to CIA 4/30/88.)

"Howling WOlf"

Howling Wolf was a Cheyenne, the son of chief
Minimic, born about 1855. At the time of his arbitrary
arrest in 1875, he was married and had one child. At Fort
Marion, he was an artist and participated in the classes,
the militia, and various entertainments. He was a popular
figure with the tourists. He developed an eye disease and
was taken to Baltimore for treatment, returning dressed as a

dandy and wearing blue spectacles. After his return to his

258

reservation, Howling WOlf worked as a policeman and school
assistant briefly, and tried to farm in the early 1880's.
He hauled freight occasionally during the 1880's, but
rejected the White Man's Road to become a leader of the
extremely conservative Dog Soldiers. In 1881, he was
alleged to have raped an Indian woman. He lived in the
conservative area near Cantonment, and received his
allotment there. In 1893, he allegedly raped a White girl,
and after an escape from jail, went into exile among the
Kiowa. He stayed on the Kiowa reservation until about 1901,
when he returned to the Cheyenne area. Apparently he began
farming about that time, although remaining a conservative.
He sponsored frequent dances and was described as a
”notorious kicker” by the agent in 1918. He belonged to
dance societies and to the peyote religion. After 1901, his
children of school age were educated. Howling WOlf died in
an automobile accident in 1927, leaving an estate valued at
$4500, including his allotment. Despite his conservativism,
he was listed on the Cheyenne Honor Roll in 1907.

(Smithsonian list, #17. Petersen, Howling Wolf, 1968.

 

Cheyenne Allotment File #2102, Concho. El Reno Daily
Herald, 4/22/94. Cheyenne Transporter, 6/10/81. C&A
Census, 1878-7909; C&A Scouts, 1885; C&A Farmers, 1921 and
Report of Jay Johnson, Cantonment, 5/25/27; C&A Cantonment
Miscellaneous Files, 1907; C&A Dances, 1900, 1918; C&A

Freight and Transportation, 1878-1888. OHSIA.)

259

”Koba"

Koba was a Kiowa born about 1849. He was unmarried
at the time of his arrest in 1875, when he was accused of
raiding with Mahmante and of attacking the Wichita Agency.
At Fort Marion, he was an artist. He attended Hampton, and
he was baptised in March, 1879. With the other students, he
worked on a farm at Lee, Massachusetts, in 1879, and
transferred to Carlisle in October. He returned to his
reservation in September, 1880. He died on the reservation
September 24, 1880, of tuberculosis. He had been considered
a model student. (Smithsonian list. Pratt to Adjutant

General, 7/19/75, PP. Petersen, 1971: 129-32.)

”Koho"

Koho was a Kiowa Mexican captive born about 1850.
At the time of his arrest in 1875, he was married. He was
accused of various raids with Lone Wolf and Mahmante.
Nothing is known of his activities at Fort Marion. Koho
never worked at the Kiowa-Comanche agency and was not listed
among those the agent described as "doing well" in 1879. He
received some non-agricultural issues in 1889, and refused
to accept his share of the grass money in 1888 and 1889.
Nothing else is known about his life or activities.
(Smithsonian list, #56. Kiowa Census, 1879-93; Kiowa Issues

File, 1889; Kiowa Per Capita File, 1888, 1889.)

260

"Left Hand”

Left Hand was a Cheyenne born about 1845. He had no
family at the time of his arrest in 1875. He was accused of
at least two murders. After his return from Fort Marion, he
worked at the agency as a policeman from 1878 until 1882.
He hauled freight occassionally during the 1880's, and he
was a scout in 1885. He had two wives by 1881, and was also
a band head. The records are inconclusive about his
activities after about 1885. There are several Cheyenne
Left Hand's and the important Arapaho chief Left Hand
appears in the records prominently. Therefore, no
determination about family or date of death is possible.
(Smithsonian list. C&A Police File, 1878-1882; C&A
Employees File, 1880-1885; C&A Census, 1881-1885; C&A Scouts
File, 1885; C&A Freight and Transportation File, 1879-1886.

OHSIA.)
“Little Chief”

Little Chief was a Cheyenne born about 1855. He was
arrested arbitrarily in 1875. At Fort Marion, he was an
artist. He attended Hampton as a Bishop Whipple protege.
With several other students, he worked on a farm at Lee,
Massachusetts, in 1879, and transferred to Carlisle. He
returned to his reservation in January, 1880. On the

reservation, he worked for four years as the medical

assistant, and for the rest of his life he was often called

 

261

Dr. William Little Chief. He was also a policeman from 1880
until 1893. He served as a scout in 1885, 1887, 1888, a
farmer and stock raiser. He took his allotment near Seger
Colony. Little Chief became a Christian, and at various
times belonged to the Dutch Reformed, Episcopal, and
Mennonite churches. He donated money to his church
congregations. He became a leading example of civilization
and was cited first in a list of eminent Indians in 1909 and
as a leading opponent of alcohol in 1914. Despite his
progressivism, Little Chief belonged to the War Dancers'
Society, and he held the ”last" Sun Dance in 1907.
(Smithsonian list, #20. Petersen, 1971: 236. CSA
Allotment File #881, Concho. C&A Census, 1878-1909; CsA Per
Capita File, 1885; CsA Indian Improvement File, Application
for trust fund; Report, Ben Miles, Asst. Farmer, 5/31/1909,
C&A Farmers File; CaA Churches, various; C&A Vices,
5/1/1914. Report of Returned Cheyenne and Arapaho Students,

PP. Carlisle Student Records, NA. The weekly Times Journal,

 

Oklahoma City, 8/23/1907. The Daily Oklahoman, 9/1/1907.)

 

”Little Medicine”

Little Medicine was a Cheyenne born about 1842. At
the time of his arbitrary arrest in 1875, he was married and
had three children. His son was Making Medicine (who became
David Pendleton.) Pratt argued for his release from Fort

Marion in 1877. On his return to Indian Territory, he

262

served as Captain of the Indian police force from 1878 until
1882 when he was fired. Notations in the record books
indicate that he may have been released because he had two
wives. Throughout the 1880's and early 1890's, he was a
band head, and he became an important leader of the
conservative Dog Soldiers. Despite his conservativism, he
moved to the Seger Colony area about 1888, and he took his
allotment there. He did not farm, however, and at the time
of his death in 1893, he was not living on his land.
(Smithsonian list, #15. C&A Allotment File #189, Concho.
Agent's Annual Report, 1889. C&A Census, 1878-1894; C&A
Police File, 1878-1882; Pratt to Miles, 4/5/77, CsA Indian

Prisoners File. OHSIA.)

”Lone Wblf”

Lone WOlf was a noted war leader of the Kiowa, born
about 1822. Before the Red River War, he had already had a
long career as a raider and warrior. At Fort Marion, he was
not cooperative, refusing to participate in tourist
activities and appearing depressed. He helped to plan the
Kiowa escape attempt, and was punished by being placed in
shackles and being held in solitary confinement. Pratt
tried on one occassion to encourage him by taking him to a
restaurant in St. Augustine to eat oysters. Pratt did not
believe that he should be released from prison, however. On

his return to the Kiowa-Comanche reservation, Lone Wolf left

 

11! 1.11.1 J

263

the agency and went to the Mount Scott area. He died there
in 1879 and was secretly buried. (Smithsonian list. Pratt,
1964: 147-53, 119, 125, 137. Petersen, 1971: 95, 125.
Corwin, : 163-180.)

”Long Back"

Long Back was a Cheyenne born about 1824. At the
time of his arrest, he was married. He was accused of the
kidnap and rape of the Germain sisters, a key incident in
the Red River War. At Fort Marion, Pratt argued against his
release, describing him as a ”bad Indian.” On his return to
his reservation , he never worked at the agency, and he had
two wives by 1882. Apparently, he immediately resumed a
traditional lifestyle, but in 1883, he wrote Pratt asking to
buy a pony harness from Carlisle. He died about 1884.
(Smithsonian list. Pratt to Adjutant General, 12/4/1878,
WD, AGO, APC File, 6238, 1878, NA. CsA Census, 1878-1882,

OHSIA. Pratt to CIA, 1/2/84, Carlisle Records, NA.)

"Making Medicine"

Making Medicine was a Cheyenne born about 1845. At
the time of his arbitrary arrest in 1875, he was married and
had a child. At Fort Marion, he was a prolific artist, and
he served as first sergeant of the Indian Militia. He
taught archery to the children of a Mrs. Larocque. By 1878,

he could understand English. He attended school in New York

264

as the protege of Mrs. George Hunt Pendleton, wife of the
senator from Ohio who later proposed the bill which created
Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Making Medicine changed
his name to David Pendleton in their honor. He recruited
for Carlisle in 1879, returning with his own wife and child.
He was baptised October 6, 1878, and confirmed October 20,
1878, and he was ordained deacon June 7, 1881. He returned
to the reservation in June, 1881, and embarked on a life-
long mission, helping to establish the mission at Whirlwind,
Oklahoma. He sent his nephew to Carlisle in 1881, and he
educated his children. He was described in 1889 as a
“faithful and good man,” and he lived out his life as a
pious Christian minister. (Smithsonian list, #12. Miles to
Pratt, 3/9/81, PP. Pratt to Mrs. Caruthers, 1/6/78, PP.
Pratt, 1964: 183. Petersen, 1971: 138, 144, 146, 225-26,
179, 187-88, 189. Cheyenne Allotment File, #522, Concho.

Cheyenne Transporter, 6/25/81 and 9/24/81. C&A Census,

 

1881-1909; C&A Churches File.)

"Matches”

Matches was a Cheyenne born about 1857. He was
arrested arbitrarily in 1875. His father was probably Lean
Bear, another Fort Marion prisoner. He attended Hampton,
and later Carlisle, as a Bishop Whipple protege. He
returned to Indian Territory in September, 1880, where he

worked as an agency employee in the early 1880's, especially

265

as a carpenter, the trade he had studied. He was described
as ”thoroughly reformed, works hard," in 1880, and in that
year he was married in a ceremony at the Arapaho Mission.
In 1881, he toured with Pratt. Two of his brothers attended
Carlisle, and his children were educated. His son Charles
was christened in a religious service in 1881. Most of his
life he used the name Walter. He apparently died about
1888: his wife appeared alone on the census after that
time. (Smithsonian list. Carlisle Student Records, Report
of Returned Students, NA. Mooney Prisoner List, National

Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian. Cheyenne

 

Transporter, 10/25/80, 11/10/80, 9/10/81. C&A Census, 1878-
1894; Employees File, 1878-1888; C&A Freight and
Transportation File, 1880—1888, OHSIA. Petersen, 1971:
132, 164.)

”Maukopeh"

Maukopeh was a Kiowa, born about 1856, who was
accused of raiding and horse theft at the time of his arrest
in 1875. He was married and had one child at that time. He
apparently began farming on his return to Indian Territory
in 1878; he was among those ”doing well" in 1879. However,
he vanished from the records about 1880, and probably died
about that time. In 1880, two members of his band were
attending Carlisle. (Smithsonian list, #54. Kiowa-Comanche

Family Record Book, Families # 161, 714, Anadarko. Kiowa

266

Census, 1878-1885; Hunt to Pratt, 2/12/79, KA 8, V01. 7, LS,

KCA, OHSIA.)

"Medicine Water"

Medicine Water was a Cheyenne born about 1837. He
was the most notorious warrior arrested among the Cheyennes
sent to Fort Marion, and was accused of several incidents of
murder and kidnapping. His wife, Mochi, was also accused of
murder and accompanied him to prison. After his release in
1878, Pratt commented that he was a ”bad Indian" who should
not have been freed. After his return to Indian Territory,
Medicine Water worked as a policeman until 1880, and he
infrequently hauled freight until 1886. He moved to the
Cantonment area and took his allotment there, living in a
band with Henry Roman Nose. He never farmed, and he was a
band head during the 1880's. He lived by collecting
annuities during the 1890's, and after 1905, he leased his
allotment and lived with his daughter. His daughter Elva
attended Carlisle from 1886-89, and another member of his
band, Chester A. Arthur, attended in 1887. At his death in
1924, Medicine Water left $145 in cash and his allotment to
his heirs. (Smithsonian list, #4. C&A Census, 1878-1909;
CsA Cattle, Pasture, and Grazing File, 7/20/1905: C&A Police
File, 1878-1880; CEA Freight and Transportation, 1879-1887;
Cantonment Farmers' Reports, 1921, 23; C&A Census,

Cantonment, 1907-1914; CsA Allotment Schedule, 1890, OHSIA.

267

Pratt to AG, 12/4/78, WD, AGO, APC FIle, 6238, 1878; C&A
Annuity Rolls, 1890-1899, NA. C&A Allotment File, #1878,

Concho.)
fMinimic”

Minimic was a noted chief of the Cheyenne who was
born about 1827. His son was Howling Wolf, another
prisoner. Before his arrest in 1875, he was a member of the
peace faction, and he was arrested arbitrarily essentially
as a hostage for the good behavior of his people. At Fort
Marion, he was a favorite of Pratt's, and he visited Pratt's
home frequently. He encouraged the younger men to
participate in classes and to cooperate with Pratt's
programs. He spoke at prayer meetings, and he appealed for
the release of the prisoners, promising correct behavior.
He was converted to Christianity at the fort, and learned to
speak English. In visitors' accounts, he was a recurrent
example of the good of Pratt's work. On his release, he
began a wood cutting and hauling business which he
maintained until his death in 1881. He continued to attend
church and to call for his friends and relatives to become
civilized. (Smithsonian list, #3. Pratt, 1964: 148-49,
159, 164-66. Hoyg, 1980: 157-161. Pratt to Miles, 4/5/7,
CaA Indian Prisoners File, OHSIA. C&A Census, 1878-1880,

OHSIA. Cheyenne Transporter, 5/25/1881.)

 

 

268

"Nocomista”

Nocomista was a Cheyenne born about 1844. He was
accused of murder at the time of his arrest in 1875. He was
said to be a Northern Cheyenne. At Fort Marion, he
participated in special entertainments, including a mock
buffalo hunt. Upon his return to Indian Territory, he
worked as a policeman in 1878 and 1879, and as a laborer in
1879 and 1881. He was a mill hand in 1880. About 1882, he
moved to the Cantonment area where he eventually received
his allotment. He had three wives in the mid-1880's, and
two by late in the decade. He was never a farmer, and he
had to sell his deceased son's land in 1917. When he died
about 1917, he left a small ($8.36) debt to a local trader.
(Smithsonian list. C&A Census, 1878-1899; Cantonment
Census, 1909-1914; Cantonment Allotment Sale Records, 1971;
C&A Allotment Schedule, 1891; C&A Police, 1878, C&A
Employees File, 1879: C&A Estates, 8/23/1907, F.C. Staley to

Byron White, Supt. OHSIA. Petersen, 1971: 124.)

”Ohettoint”

Ohettoint was a Kiowa Mexican captive born about
1853. He was accused of various raids with Mahmante and
Lone Wolf at the time of his arrest. At Fort Marion, he was
a prolific artist. He studied under the direction of Mrs.
George Couper Gibbs, who named him Charles. He attended

Hampton as the protege of Mrs. Annie S. Larocque. At

269

Hampton, he was baptised in March, 1879, and he went with
some of the other students to meet the President of the
United States. Ohettoint was No. 1 on the Carlisle Student
Records. He recruited for the school in 1879. He departed
for his reservation in June of 1880. In Indian Territory,
Ohettoint worked as a teacher and school recruiter, a clerk
for the agency, the assistant carpenter, and a policeman.
During his periods of unemployment, he hauled freight.
Before allotment, he became a farmer and stock raiser. He
took his allotment near the agency at Anadarko. All of his
children were educated in agency schools, and his brother
attended Carlisle. He had two wives, one of whom was the
ex—wife of the prisoner Zotom. He was greatly respected by
his fellow Kiowas, participating in dances and the peyote
religion. He died in 1934. (Smithsonian list, #46. Kiowa
Allotment File #82, Anadarko. Carlisle Student Records,
Ohettoint, Report on Returned Student, 1914, NA. Kiowa
Census, 1878-1893; Pratt to Hunt, 5/5/80, Kiowa Carlisle
Indian School File; Kiowa Employees File, 1882-1887; Kiowa
Police File, 1890-1902; Kiowa Day School, Quarterly Reports,
1897-98; Kiowa Issues, 1883-1890. OHSIA. Petersen, 1971:
161-170.)

"Onkoeht"

Onkoeht was a Kiowa Mexican captive who was born

about 1849. He was one of the warriors in Mahmante's band.

270

Upon his return to his agency in 1878, he worked as a
laborer under the name of Martin for a brief period. He
then apparently began farming and was listed among those
doing well in 1879. (Aunkaht) By 1890, he had an eighteen
acre farm near that of another ex-prisoner, Beahko. His
activities until his death are very obscure after the early
1890's, as there are several Martins and men with names
similar to Onkoeht. It is clear that he died in 1931,
however. (Smithsonian list, #45. Hunt to Pratt, 2/12/79,
RA 8, Vol. 7, LS, KCA; Kiowa Employees File, 1878; Report of
wm. Wyatt, 6/28/90, Kiowa Farmers File; Kiowa Census, 1879-
1909. OHSIA. Kiowa Allotment File #323 (Aunkoy),

Anadarko.)

"Packer"

Packer was an Arapaho born about 1851. At the time
of his arrest, accused of the murder of an agency employee,
he was married and had a child. At Fort Marion, he was an
artist, and Pratt called him "one of the best I have.” On
his reservation after his release, he worked as a policeman
during the early 1880's and as a laborer. He left the
agency to live among other Arapahos near Seger Colony, and
he took his allotment there. He had two wives during the
mid-1880's, and may have had three by the end of the decade.
One of his children attended school in 1881, and a child

from his band attended Lawrence Institute in 1884. He died

271

in 1893. (Smithsonian list. Cheyenne Allotment File #266,
Concho. Petersen, 1971: 240. Pratt to Covington, 9/14/75,
C&A Indian Prisoners File; C&A Employees File, 1878-1881;
C&A Police File, 1879-1885; C&A Freight and Transportation
File, 1881; CaA Census, 1878-1899. OHSIA.)

"Pautausape”

Pautausape, Bull with Holes in his Ears, was a Kiowa
Mexican captive born about 1832. At the time of his arrest
in 1875, he was married and had a son. He was one of
Mahmante's warriors. After his release from Fort Marion, he
was an enthusiastic wage laborer, working as commissary
watchman, brickmaker, lumber mill hand, wood cutter, and
laborer. He also did freighting. In the 1890's, he
sharecropped his farm (which he had begun in the 1880's) to
work as a school assistant. He usually lived in a house,
and paid for a new one himself in 1898. His children
attended school. Late in his life, he leased all but forty
acres of his allotment. He died in 1908. (Smithsonian
list, #57. Kiowa Allotment or Estate Records, Anadarko.
Kiowa Family Record Book, #‘s 1879, 278, Anadarko. Kiowa
Employees File, 1878-1890; Kiowa Freight and Transportation
File, 1880-1895; Kiowa Washita School Records, 6/30/96;
Kiowa Patents, Receipts, 2/9/1903; Kiowa Leases, 1901-1906,
#248; Kiowa Cache Creek School Records; Kiowa Indian Houses,

12/17/98 and 6/8//l902; Kiowa Medicine Men, 1/30/96; Hunt to

272

Miss S.H. Mather, 2/17/80, RA 9, Vol. 8, LS; Hunt to Pratt,

2/12/79, KA8, Vol 7., LS, KCA. OHSIA.)

"Pavoorite"

Pavoorite was a Comanche Mexican captive who was
born about 1835. He was accused of horsetheft and threats
of murder when he was arrested. There is some confusion
about whether Pavoorite survived Fort Marion. If he did so,
he died almost immediately upon his release. (Smithsonian

list, #72. He appears in no agency records.)

”Pedro"

Pedro was a Kiowa born about 1829. He, too, was a
Mexican captive who was a warrior with Mahmante. At Fort
Marion, Pratt described him as handy, and he helped in
treating an imagined illness of Zotom's. After his release,
he immediately began a farm, and he had twenty acres in
cultivation by 1890. A house was built for him in 1879, but
he apparently did not live in it: he accepted tent duck in
his annual issues. He was widowed in the 1880's, and
remarried about 1900. His new daughter attended Methvin
Institute. Pedro died in 1920. (Smithsonian list, #59.
Kiowa Allotment File #679, Anadarko. Petersen, 1971: 174.
Kiowa Census, 1879-1905; Kiowa Employees File, 1878-1890;
M. Farris, Report, 6/28/1890, Kiowa Farmers File; Kiowa

Issues Files, 1880's; Hunt to Miss S.H. Mather, 2/17/80,

273

KA9, V01. 8, LS. OHSIA.)

”Pe-eh-chip”

Pe-eh-chip was a Comanche who was born about 1852.
He was described as an outcast who had shot his father and
had been on the warpath ever since. His brother was
Tischecoddy, another prisoner. Taawayite was his nephew.
On his return from Fort Marion, he worked briefly as a
policeman (1879), but soon left the agency. He had two
wives by 1880 and three by 1883. He gave one of these to
Tischecoddy in 1885. He may have died in 1885 or 1886,
although a man with a similar name and of the right age
lived until 1912. (Smithsonian list, #69. Kiowa Allotment
File, #1583, Anadarko. Kiowa Issues File, 6/30/79; Kiowa
Farmers, Report, 6/28/1890; Kiowa Census, 1879-1888; Kiowa

Indian Houses, 6/24/98. OHSIA.)

”Quoyouh”

Quoyouh was a Comanche born about 1831. At the time
of his arrest he was married and had one child. At Fort
Marion, he taught Comanche to Mason Pratt, Pratt's son, and
he participated in such entertainments as the mock buffalo
hunt. Back on his reservation, he worked as a policeman
from 1879 until the 1890's, was a scout from 1883 until
1887, and he started a farm near the old agency at Fort

Sill. He received that land as his allotment. He wrote

274

Pratt for help in building a new house in 1899, and he
handled his own correspondence when his allotment was
challenged in 1901. He sharecropped his land in the 1890's.
He died in 1909. (Smithsonian list. Kiowa Allotment File,
#2309, Anadarko. Petersen, 1971: 123-24. Speech by Pratt,
Mrs. Pratt Scrapbooks, PP. Kiowa Census, 1879-1909; Kiowa
Issues, 1882; Kiowa Freight and Transportation File, 1880;
Hunt to Pratt, 2/12/79, KA 8, Vbl. 7, LS; Kiowa Indian
Houses File, 12/23/1899; Kiowa Allotments File, 1901-02.

OHSIA.)

”Rising Bull"

Rising Bull was a Cheyenne who was born about 1857.
At the time of his arrest for murder in 1875, he was married
and had one child. After his return to Indian Territory in
1878, he worked as a policeman in 1878 and 1879, when he was
fired. He went to the Cantonment area where he remained the
rest of his life. Nothing is known of his activities until
his death in 1903. (Smithsonian list. C&A Allotment and
Estate Records, Concho. C&A Employees and Police Files,
1878-1880, NA. C&A Freight and Transportation File, 1879-
1888: C&A Census, 1878-1888; C&A Per Capita File, 1897.

OHSIA.)

"Roman Nose"

Roman Nose was a Cheyenne born about 1856. He was

275

arrested arbitrarily in 1875. At Fort Marion, he was an
artist. He attended Hampton as the protege of Mrs. Horace
Caruthers after the Caruthers decided not to keep him at
Tarrytown, New York. He was baptised Henry Caruthers in
March, 1879. He transferred to Carlisle in October, 1879,
and recruited for the school. At Carlisle, he studied
tinning, and after an unsatisfying stay on his reservation
from 1881 to 1883, he returned for additional study. On his
reservation, he worked as a laborer, sawmill hand,
policeman, herder, and scout. Late in the 1880's, he left
the agency permanently, and moved to a farm, where he
remained the rest of his life. Much of his income derived
from leases of his land to the Roman Nose Gypsum Company.
Roman Nose became a prominent man, rising to be Chief of the
Southern Cheyennes. He participated in several delegations
to Washington, and he wrote many letters in behalf of his
people. He belonged to the peyote religion, and died at one
of its services in 1917. His son Jonathan was educated.
Roman Nose complained of his poverty to Pratt several times,
declining to visit Carlisle because of lack of funds. At
his death, he left $4.17 in the bank. For most of his life,
he had two wives. (Smithsonian list, #17. Cheyenne
Allotment File, #2071, Concho. CaA Census, 1881-1909; C&A
Employees File, 1882-1889; C&A Scouts File, 1885; CaA
Cattle, Pastures, and Grazing File, 7/20/1905; CsA Indian

Dances File, 1919; C&A Federal Relations File, 4/10/1923.

276

OHSIA. Daily Oklahoman, 4/18/1915. Carlisle Student

 

Records, NA. CEA Cantonment Individual Indian Files, Henry
Roman Nose, OHSIA. Petersen, 1971: 242. Petersen, 1964:

458-478.)

”Sa-a-mi-a-da"

Sa-a-mi-a-da was a Kiowa who was born about 1829.
He was accused of murder when he was arrested. At Fort
Marion, he requested that Woman's Heart's wife bring him a
wife if and when the families of the prisoners were sent to
join them. He was on the list of returning prisoners in
1878, but he immediately disappeared from all further
records. (Smithsonian list. Pratt, 1964. Hunt to CIA,

"Shave Head"

Shave Head was a Cheyenne born about 1855 who was
arrested arbitrarily in 1875. He was an artist at Fort
Marion. He received religious education at Paris Hill, New
York, as a protege of the Central New York Episcopal
Diocese. He was baptised John Wicks October 6, 1878, and
confirmed October 20. He left for his reservation in
September, 1880, because of his illness, and he died there
November 10 of tuberculosis. (Smithsonian list, #16.
Petersen, 1971: 132, 176, 177-78, 244. Pratt to CIA,
4/23/78, PP. Cheyenne Transporter, 11/26/80.)

 

277

"Soaring Eagle”

Soaring Eagle was a Cheyenne who was born about
1852. He was accused of murder at the time of his arrest.
At Fort Marion, he was an artist, a participant in church
and English classes, and a gardener. He attended Hampton as
a Bishop Whipple protege. He did not finish his course of
study and left for his reservation in October of 1879.
There he worked as a policeman until 1881, when he was
fired. He left the agency and lived in the Cantonment area.
He died in 1887. (Smithsonian list, #24. Petersen, 1971:
246-47. C&A Census, 1879-1887; Pratt to Miles, 1/3/76, C&A
Indian Prisoners File. OHSIA. C&A Police,NA. Pratt to

Adj. General, 7/19/1875 and Pratt to CIA, 4/23/78, PP.)

”Sogause"
Sogause was a Kiowa born about 1815. He was
arrested for murder in 1875. At Fort Marion, he

participated in the Kiowa escape attempt, and Pratt argued
against his release. The records are unclear about his
actual return, and he did not appear in any agency records

after 1878. (Smithsonian list. Petersen, 1971: 119, 125.)

"Squint Eyes”

Squint Eyes, Tichkematse, was a Cheyenne born about
1858. He was arrested arbitrarily in 1875. At Fort Marion,

he was an artist. He attended Hampton as a protege of Mrs.

278

A.E. Psrall. He was among a delegation of students who
visited the President. In 1879, he went to work for the
Smithsonian Institution, serving as a guide, taxidermist,
and collector. After his return to his reservation in 1880,
he made an expedition to Arizona for the Smithsonian. On
the reservation, he worked briefly as a laborer, and he was
a scout for most of the 1880's. He received his allotment
near Cantonment, but was #29--very early. After his wife's
death in 1891, he moved to the Montana reservation of the
Northern CHeyenne. There he was a policeman and member of
the U.S. Cavalry. He farmed lands in Montana. His brother,
Rutherford B. Hayes, attended Carlisle. He was baptised a
Mennonite in 1929. His estate records indicate attempts by
his second wife to manipulate him to inherit his lands: she
remarried a former husband three days after his death in
1932. His Oklahoma lands were always leased. (Smithsonian
list, #19. Smithsonian Annual Report, 1881: 40. Cheyenne
Allotment File #29, Concho. Pratt to CIA, 8/20/79, PP. C&A
Employees, 1879-1889; C&A Allotments Records, Receipts for
trust patents, 1903, NA. Carlisle Student Records, #93, NA.
C&A Scouts, Fort Supply, 1885; C&A Census, 1885-1888: Pratt
to Miles, 1/20/80, C&A Indian Prisoners File; C&A Per Capita
File, 1894-1897; Cantonment Heirships, 1917: OHSIA.

Petersen, 1971: 193-206. Cheyenne Transporter, 2/25/1882.)

279

"Star"

Star was a Cheyenne who was born about 1852. He was
arbitrarily arrested in 1875. At Fort Marion, he became the
head baker. Later in his life, he claimed to have attended
Hampton Institute, although no record of that has been
found. On the reservation, he worked as a policeman,
laborer, fireman, and assistant carpenter. He was also the
agency tinner. He served often as a scout in the late
1880's and into the 1890's. After allotment, he began to
farm. In 1905, he travelled with Kennedy's XIT Ranch Wild
West Show. Late in his life, he did not farm, but did
various odd jobs. He leased his inherited land, but not his
own. Star had two wives during the 1880's and 1890's. Some
of his children attended school. He died in 1924.
(Smithsonian list, #10. C&A Allotment File #2178, Concho.
Pratt, 1964: 124. C&A Census, 1878-1909: C&A Police File,
1878,; C&A Employees File, 1885; C&A Farmers File, 1923: C&A
Indian Lands, Cantonment Allotment Sale Records, 1915:
OHSIA. C&A Employees, 1878-1889, NA. C&A Cantonment Indian

Files, Star and Locust, OHSIA.)

”Taawayite"

Taawayite was a Comanche born about 1856. He was
unmarried at the time of his arrest for horsetheft in 1875.
He went to Paris Hill for religious education in 1878, and

he transferred to Carlisle in 1880. He left for the

280

reservation in June, 1881, with the other missionary
students to help found a mission for the Kiowa. He worked
as a missionary with Zotom until Rev. Wicks left Anadarko in
1884. He then abandoned the work, working as a policeman in
1885-86. He left the agency and began a small farm. By
1910, he had a small house and substantial cash, as well as
his allotment. Taawayite had only one wife at a time, and
his children were educated. At his death in 1917, he left
$140 in the bank. (Smithsonian list, #68. Kiowa Allotment
File #824, Anadarko. Petersen, 1971: 176-80, 184. Kiowa
Police Rolls, NA. Carlisle Student Records, Reports of
Returned Students, 1910, NA. Kiowa Census, 1885-1893: Kiowa
Estates, 1917: Kiowa Issues File, 1881-1890: Kiowa Farmers
File, Report, 6/28/90: Kiowa Police File, 1892: Pratt to
Hunt, 5/5/80, Kiowa Carlisle Indian School File: Pratt to
Adjutant General, 7/19/1875, Kiowa Indian Prisoners File.
OHSIA. Wicks to Pratt, 3/21/82; 'Rev. J.B. Wicks and His

Work in the Territory,“ Morning Star, Vo1, II, No. 9, PP.)
"Taneti“

Taneti was a Kiowa born about 1834 who was a noted
warrior and leader at the time of his arrest in 1875. He
had already been prison seven months when he was sent to
Florida. Upon his release, he did not work for the agency,
but did some freighting. He also began a farm, and by 1891

had fifteen acres cultivated and a herd of forty-five

281

horses. He did not live in a house. He was a band head in
the 1880's. His agent described him as doing well in 1879.
Although he accepted his share of the grass lease money in
the late 1880's, he signed a protest of the Jerome Agreement
for the allotment of the reservation. He had one wife, and
several of his children were educated. He may have died
about 1888, but a man with a nearly identical name and of
the right age and residence lived until 1905. Because his
land was sold, no allotment record exists which would permit
verification. (Smithsonian list, #40. Kiowa-Comanche
Family Record Book, #271, Anadarko. Kiowa Census, 1878-
1900: Kiowa Freight and Transportation File, 1881-1888;
Kiowa Farmers File, Report, 7/31/91: Kiowa Issues File,
1882—1890: Kiowa Patents, 1903: Hunt to Pratt, 2/12/79, KA
8, Vbl. 7, LS: KA 48, Kiowa Councils, 10/17/92: Kiowa-

Comanche Allotment or Estate Records. OHSIA.)

"Tischecoddy”

Tischecoddy was a Comanche, born about 1846, who was
a member of Black hHorse's band. He was accused of
horsetheft and raiding when he was arrested in 1875. As
soon as he returned from Fort Marion, he began a farm: by
1890, he had twelve acres in corn and a small herd of
cattle--twenty head. He continued to expand his cattle
herd, and in 1896 entered a partnership with the squaw man

E.L. Clark to raise a much larger herd. Throughout the

 

282

1880's and 1890's, Tischecoddy had two wives. He had three
in 1885, but one ran away. His attempts to get her back are
recounted in Chapter 5. Tischecoddy took progressive
positions on leasing the reservation and accepted his share
of the lease money. His children were educated, mostly at
the Fort Sill Boarding School. Tischecoddy, whose name
meant Always Sitting Down in a Bad Place, died in 1913.
(Smithsonian list, #70. Kiowa Allotment Schedule, 1891:
Kiowa Census, 1879- 1909: Kiowa Deaths File, Report of
Deaths, 1913: Kiowa Issues File, 1886-1889; Kiowa Farmers
File, Report, 6/28/90: Kiowa Leases File, 1901-1906, #115:
Kiowa Patents, Receipts, 1903: Kiowa Cache Creek School and
Fort Sill Boarding School Files, 1890-1915: Hunt to Pratt,
2/12/79, RA 8, V01. 7, LS: Kiowa Divorces File, 1895.

OHSIA. Kiowa Allotment File #799, Anadarko.)

”Tonekeuh”

Tonekeuh was a Kiowa born about 1859 who was
arrested for theft and raiding with Lone Wolf. He was an
artist at Fort Marion. He attended Hampton as a protege of
Bishop Whipple, and transferred to Carlisle in October,
1879. He left Carlisle in March, 1880, after having asked
Pratt several times to allow him to go. He worked a few
days at his agency in 1880, but quit, saying he was tired.
(See Chapter 6.) His agent wrote his friend Ohettoint

asking him to try to convince him to come back to the

283

agency. He never did. He lived for two years as a ”camp
Indian”, and he died in June, 1882. (Smithsonian list, #52.
Kiowa Census, 1880-1882: Kiowa Employees File, 3/31/80:
Pratt to Hunt, 2/27/80, Kiowa Hampton File: Kiowa Issues
File, 1881-1882. OHSIA. Petersen, 1971: 164-66, 248.

Pratt to CIA, 4/23/78, PP.)

"Tsadletah”

Tsadletah was a Kiowa born about 1848. At the time
of his arrest for various murders and raids, he was married
and had a child. At Fort Marion, he was an artist. He
attended Hampton in 1878 and 1879, and he was baptised in
March, 1879. He became ill with tuberculosis on the
Goodspeed farm, Lee, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1879
and died October 6 at the home of Alexander Hyde. He was
buried at Lee. (Smithsonian list, #49. Petersen, 1971:
142, 250. Pratt to Adjutant General, 7/19/75, Kiowa Indian

Prisoners File, OHSIA.)

”Tsaitkopeta"

Tsaitkopeta was a Kiowa born about 1853. He was
accused of murder, theft, and horsetheft at the time of his
arrest. At Fort Marion, he was an artist and made various
crafts for sale. He went to Tarrytown to live in the home
of Dr. Horace Caruthers for his education. He was baptised

Paul Caruthers in 1879. At Tarrytown, Paul made crafts for

284

sale and made enough money to send some home to his family.
He stayed for his full three year course, leaving for his
reservation in July, 1882. At Anadarko, Paul worked
variously as a wood cutter, government school employee,
policeman, and scout. He was also an assistant to the
Methodist minister J.J. Methvin. (See Chapter 6 for an
account of the harassment he faced.) He also had a small
farm. In the late 1880's Paul gave up his Christianity and
belonged to the peyote religion. He had two wives, and many
children, most of whom were educated. (The author counted
at least eighteen.) Late in his life, Paul's health
deteriorated-~he had contracted tuberculosis in New York--
and he did little farming, but he always was handy at the
agency for witnesing documents or serving as a signatory.
Tsaitkopeta was probably another of the Mexican captives
represented in this group. He died in 1910. (Smithsonian
list, #58. Petersen, 1971: 252, 263. Kiowa Allotment File
#307, Anadarko. Carlisle Student Records, including Pratt
to CIA, 5/30/81 NA. Kiowa Census, 1882-1910: Pratt to
Adjutant General, 7/19/75, Kiowa Indian Prisoners File;
Tsaitkopeta to Hunt, 12/17/79, Kiowa Indian Prisoners File:
Indian Pioneer History, Vbl. 36: 200-202; Kiowa Carlisle
File, 3/13/1900, 6/22/1904, 2/12/1904: Kiowa Vices File,
3/21/86: Kiowa Farmers File, Report, 6/28/90. OHSIA. Pratt
to CIA, 4/23/78 and Tsaitkopeta to Pratt, 12/16/81, PP.

Miscellaneous documents, Kiowa Heirships File, Estates File,

285

etc., OHSIA.)
"White Bear”

White Bear was an Arapaho born about 1853. He was
accused of the attempted murder of an agency employee at the
time of his arrest, and he was married in 1875. At Fort
Marion, he participated in the entertainments for visitors,
including the mock buffalo hunt. He was also an artist. He
attended Hampton in 1878 and 1879 and transferred to
Carlisle in October, 1879. He returned to his reservation
in March, 1880. On the reservation, he became a farmer/
stockraiser, and he also served as a scout. By 1885, he was
living among the other farming Arapahos near Seger Colony.
He sent a child to White Institute in 1884, and his daughter
Kate attended Carlisle in 1882. His other children were
also educated. He died in 1892. (Smithsonian list, #35.
Petersen, 1971: 122-23, 164, 227, 254. Cheyenne Allotment
File # 1540, Concho. C&A Census, 1880-1893: CsA Per Capita
File, 1898: Pratt to Adjutant General, 7/19/75, Kiowa Indian

Prisoners File. OHSIA. )
”White Horse”

White Horse was a well-known raider and warrior at
the time of his arrest in 1875. He had two wives at the
time. His brother-in-law was Mahmante, another prisoner.

At Fort Marion, he was one of the principle leaders of the

 

286

Kiowa escape plan, and he was severely punished for his
efforts. He nevertheless participated in the entertainments
and was an artist. Back on his reservation, he began a very
small farm late in the 1880's, having continued to raid
early in the decade. His agent described him as having
entirely reverted to Indian life. After 1890, the records
are unclear about his activities, but it seems clear that he
died in 1892. (Smithsonian list. Petersen, 1971: lll-.
Kiowa Census, 1878- 1893. Kiowa Freight and Transportation
File, 1879: Kiowa Farmers File, Report, 7/1/91; Kiowa Indian

Houses File, 1/9/93. Agent's Annual Report, 1879, 1880.)
“White Man"

White Man was a Cheyenne born about 1854. At the
time of his arrest in 1875, he was married and had a child.
He was accused of murder. At Fort Marion, he was an artist.
He attended Hampton and was baptised Ahsit in March, 1879.
He transferred to Carlisle in October, 1879, and returned to
his reservation in January, 1880. Back on his reservation,
he worked as a laborer, teamster, and herder until the agent
had to fire him for lack of funds. He then became a farmer
and stock raiser. He lived near Cantonment, but always had
only one wife at a time. His children were educated. He
changed his name to Hail. In his old age, he lived by
farming his wife's allotment and from lease income on his

own land. He died in 1931. (Smithsonian list, #6.

287

Petersen, 1971: 256. Cheyenne Allotment File #1901,
Concho. Pratt to Adjutant General, 7/19/75, Kiowa Indian
Prisoners File: CaA Census, 1880-1914: CsA Freight and
Transportation, 1880-1885: C&A Employees File, 1881: Pratt
to Miles, 1/20/80, CaA Indian Prisoners File. OHSIA. Miles

to Pratt, 2/16/84, PP. C&A Farmer's Report, 1923, OHSIA.)

"Wohaw”

Wohaw was a Kiowa (perhaps a Kiowa Apache) who was
born about 1855. He was accused of murders at the time of
his arrest and had a wife and a child. He was an artist at
Fort Marion. In the first few years after his return from
prison, he worked as a policeman and attended school, but by
the early 1880's he left agency employment to found a small
farm. In the 1890's, besides raising stock, he was a member
of the cavalry. He usually lived in the Saddle Mountain
area, a relatively conservative region, but he had a house
built there and his children were educated. He accepted
grass money in the late 1880's. As he grew older, he grew
more conservative, participating in dance societies and the
Ghost Dance and later joinging the peyote religion. He
stopped farming and leased his land. He lived with his son.
WOhaw died in 1924. (Smithsonian list, #39. Petersen,
1971: 207-09. Kiowa Allotment File, #2537, Anadarko.
Kiowa Census, 1878-1924: Kiowa Leases File, Record Book

1904-1906: Kiowa Police File, 1879-1881: Hunt to Pratt,

288

2/12/79, RA 8, V01. 7, LS: Kiowa Freight and Transportation
File, 1882; Kiowa Cattle, Pastures, and Grazing, 9/5/1892:
Kiowa Councils, Lime Creek, 5/3/1895: Kiowa Farmers File,

9/15/1911: Kiowa Indian Houses File, 3/6/96. OHSIA.)
"Woman's Heart”

Woman's Heart was a Kiowa war chief well-known for
his raiding before the Red River War. At the time of his
arrest, he was married and had a son. At Fort Marion, he
was described as depressed and withdrawn and was observed .
praying “in the Indian way.“ He participated in the Kiowa
escape attempt, but because of his depression and apparent
poor health he was not punished. He was released in April,
1877, at Pratt's urging and over the objections of General
Hatch. Back on the reservation, he resumed his old raiding,
leading a war party off the reservation in 1879. In 1882,
he demanded that he and other chiefs be paid for children
they might place in Carlisle and other schools, and Pratt
responded with a bitter remark that he should have kept him
in Florida. He probably died in 1882 or 1883. (Smithsonian
list, #37. Kiowa Family Record Book, Family #16, Anadarko.
Pratt, 1964: 158. Petersen, 1971: 119. Kiowa Chiefs
File, 1878: Kiowa Census, 1879-1883: KA 8, Vbl. 7, 4/1879--
Reports of warparties off reservation: Pratt to Hunt,

8/2/1882, Kiowa Carlisle File. OHSIA.)

289

”wyako”

Wyako was a Comanche Mexican captive who was a
member of Black Horse's band . He was arrested for raiding
and horsetheft. At Fort Marion, he was uncooperative and
may have assisted the Kiowas in their escape attempt. He
was punished for his threats and refusal to be searched.
Back on his reservation, he never worked for the agency and
apparently did not found a farm, although he received a few
agricultural issues. He was married, but his sons died as
children. He accepted the grass money in the late 1880's.
He died in 1893. (Smithsonian list. Kiowa Census, 1878-
1893: Kiowa Issues File, 1880-1890. OHSIA. Pratt, 1964:
149-51.)

”Zonekeuh"

Zonekeuh was a Kiowa who was born about 1858. At
the time of his arrest, he was accused of various murders.
At Fort Marion, he was an artist. He attended Hampton as
protege of Dr. Horace Caruthers where he contracted
tuberculosis. He was moved to Carlisle in March, 1880, and
he died there in April. (Smithsonian list, #50. Petersen,
1971: 102, 258-59. Carlisle Student Records, NA. Pratt to

CIA, 4/23/78; Tarrytown Argus, 4/27/78, PP.)
”Zopehe”

Zopehe was a Kiowa Mexican captive who was born

290

about 1832. At the time of his arrest, he was married and
had two sons. He was accused of murder and raiding. He
participated in the Kiowa escape attempt at Fort Marion.
After his return to his reservation in 1878, he disappeared
from all records and may have died. (Smithsonian list, #48.
Pratt to Adjutant General, 7/19/75, Kiowa Indian Prisoners
File: Hunt to Hoyt, 5/2/78, KA7, Vbl. 5, LS: Hunt to Pratt,

2/12/79, KA8, VOl. 7, LS. OHSIA. Pratt, 1964.)
"Zotom”

Zotom was a Kiowa who was born about 1854. He was
accused of raiding with Mahmante at the time of his arrest.
At Fort Marion, he was at first insubordinate, but later
became the post bugler. He danced in the various
entertainments, studied in the classes, and was an artist.
He went to Paris Hill to study religion with Rev. Wicks in
1878. He was baptised Paul Caryl in 1878 and ordained
deacon in 1881. (See Chapter 6.) He left for the
reservation to found a mission in 1881. (See also
Taawayite, David Pendleton.) He was an active missionary
until about 1885, when Rev. Wicks left Anadarko. Zotom
then became a medicine man, and later a farmer. He
experimented with the religions current among the Kiowa at
the time, first the Ghost Dance, then the Baptist Church,
and finally the peyote religion. He had problems with

drunkenness and indebtedness during the 1890's. His

291

children were all educated, and his brothers Otto and Owen
attended Carlisle. He was an informant for James Mooney.
He died in 1913. (Smithsonian list, #44. Kiowa Allotment
File, #1403. Petersen, 1971: 171-192. Kiowa Deaths File,
1913: Kiowa Census, 1881-1903: Kiowa Employees File, 1883,
1885: Kiowa Courts File, 1896, 1897: Kiowa Celebrations and
Dances File, 10/31/98: Kiowa Farmers File, 6/28/90. OHSIA.

Pratt, 1964: 137, 185-86, 188-89.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archival Materials

292

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anadarko Agency (Anadarko, Oklahoma)
Kiowa and Comanche Alltoment Files.
Family Record Book.

Concho Agency (Concho, Oklahoma)
Cheyenne and Arapaho Allotment Files.

Missouri Historical Society (St. Louis, Missouri)
Indian Drawings by Wohaw.

Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma):

Indian Archives

Card Index.

Cheyenne and
Cheyenne and
Cheyenne and
Cheyenne and

Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho

Indians File.

and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and

Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne

Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho

Agency,
Agench
Agency,
Agency,

Agency,
AgenCYr
Agency,
Agency,
Agency.
Agency.
AgenCYI
Agency,
Agency.
Agency.
Agency,
Agench
Agency.
Agency,
AgenCYI
Agency,
Agency,
Agency,
AgencYI
Agency,
Agency.
AgencYI
Agench
Agency.
Agency,

Agents and Agency File.
Allotments File.
Annuities File.
Cantonment Individual

Carlisle File.

Census.

Churches File.

Courts File.

Deaths File.

Employees File.

Estates File.

Fairs File.

Farmers File.

Federal Relations File.
Field Matrons File.
Foreign Relations File.
Guardianship File.
Hampton Institute File.
Indian Dances File.
Indian Houses File.
Indian Improvement File.
Indian Murders File.
Indian Prisoners File.
Issues File.

John H. Seger File.
Land Sale File.
Lawlessness File.
Leases File.
Letterbooks.

Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne

and
and
and
and
and
and

Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho
Arapaho

293

Agency.
Agench
Agency.
Agency,
Agency.
Agench

Letterbooks, Cantonment.
Per Capita File.

Police File.

Schools File.

Scouts File.

Vices File.

Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and

Grazing
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Kiowa and
Grant

Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
File

Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche
Comanche

Smithsonian Institution:
Office of Anthropology Archives
Bureau of American Ethnology Collection
M.S. Field Notebooks of James Mooney.
Photograph collection.

AgencYI
Agency.
Agency.
AgencYI
Agency,
Agency.
AgencYI

Agency.
Agency,
AgenCYI
AgenCYI
Agency.
Agency.
Agency,
AgencYI
Agency.
AgenCYI
Agency,
Agench
Agency,
Agency,
Agency.
Agency,
Agency,
AgencYI
AgenCYr
Agency,
AgenCYr
Agency,
Agency,
Agency.
Agench

Agench
Agency,

Agents and Agency File.
Allotments File.
Annuities File.
Blacksmith File.
Carpenters File.
Carlisle File.

Cattle, Pastures and

Census.

Chiefs File.

Churches File.

Councils File.

Dances File.

Deaths File.

Divorces File.
Employees File.

Estates File.

Farmers File.

Federal Relations File.
Foreign Relations File.
Guardianship File.
Hides File.

Indian Houses File.
Indian Prisoners File.
Issues File.

Land Sales File.

Leases File.
Letterbooks.

Medicine Men File.
Military Relations File.
Patents File.

Per Capita File.

Police File.

Scouts File.

Vices File.

Foreman Collection, Indian Pioneer History.

294

National Archives:
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Carlisle Indian Industrial School Records.

Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, Classified Files.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, Letters Received.
Indian Census Rolls, Cheyenne and Arapaho and

Kiowa and Comanche Agencies.

Kiowa and Comanche Agency, Classified Files.

Statistics Division
Record of Indian Police.
Roster of Agency Employees.
War Department
Adjutant General’s Office
File 2815-1874.
ACP File 6238-1878.

Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut), Beinecke Rare

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1. Congressional

Report 9; the Commissioner 93 Indian Affairs.

 

 

Senate Report: 39 Cong., 2 sess., No. 165.

 

2. General Documents

Congressional Record. 1875-1907.

 

1875-1905.

Kappler, Charles J., comp. and ed. Indian Affairs: Laws and

Treaties. V01. II.

 

United States Statutes 35 Large. VOls. 15, 26, 31.

Newspapers

 

Argus, Tarrytown, New York.

295

Cheyenne Transporter, Darlington, Indian Territory.

Daily Herald, El Reno, Oklahoma.

Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Morning Star, Carlisle Indian School.

 

Weekly Times Journal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Theses and Dissertations

 

Gilcreast, Everett A. "Richard Henry Pratt and American
Indian Policy, 1877-1906: A Study of the Assimilation

Movement” (Unpub. Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University,
1967).

Ryan, Carmelita S. "The History of the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School” (Unpub. Ph.D. dissertation, Georgetown
University, 1962).

Books and Articles

 

Barth, Fredrik. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston,
1969.

Bennett, John W. Northern Plainsmen. Chicago, 1969.

Berthrong, Donald J. The Cheyenne and Arepaho Ordeal:
Reservation and Agency Life lg the Indian Territory, 1875-
1907. Norman, 1976.

 

 

----- . "Cattlemen on the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation,"
Arizona and the West, V01. XIII, No. I (Spring, 1971), 5-32.

 

----- . The Southern Cheyennes. Norman, 1963.

----- . ”White Neighbors Come Among the Southern Cheyenne

296

and Arapaho,“ Kansas anrterly, V01. III, No. 4 (Fall,
1971), 105-15.

Blu, Karen I. The Lumbee Problem: The Making pl gg American
Indian People. Cambridge, 1980.

 

 

Braroe, Niels W. Indian and White: Self-Image and Inter-
Action lg g Canadian Plains Community. Stanford, 1975.

 

Broom, A. and Kitsuse. “The Validation of Acculturation.”
American Anthropologist, 57: 44-48.

 

Cohoe. A Cheyenne Sketchbook. Commentary by E. Adamson
Hoebel and Karen Daniels Petersen. Norman, 1964.

 

Corwin, Hugh D. The Kiowa Indians: Their Histoey
and Life Stories. Lawton, 1958.

 

 

Dorsey, George A. The Arapaho Sun Dance: The Ceremogy
pl the Offerings Lodge. Field Columbian Museum Publication
No. 75, Anthropological SeriesL IV. (Chicago, 1903.)

 

 

 

----- . The Cheyenne: The Sun Dance. Field Columbian
Museum Publication No. lOlL Anthropological Series. V01. Ix,
No. 2. (Chicago, 1905.)

----- and Alfred L. Kroeber. Traditions pl the Arepaho.
Field Columbian Museum Publication No. 8ly Anthropological
Series. Vol.V. (Chicago, 1903.)

 

Dozier, Edward. ”Forced and Permissive Acculturation.“
The American Indian, 7: 38-45.

 

Eastman, Elaine. PrattI The Red Man’s Moses. Norman, 1935.

Freed, 8. ”Suggested Type Societies in Acculturation
Studies.” American Anthropologist, 59: 55-60.

Fritz, Henry E. The Movement for Indian Assimilation,
1860-1890. Philadelphia, 1963.

 

297

Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians. 2 vols.

New York, 1962.

----- . py Cheyenne Campfires. New Haven, 1926.

Guillemin, Jeanne. Urban Renegades: The Cultural Strategy
pl American Indians. New York, 1975.

 

 

Hagan, William T. United States Comanche Relations: The
Reservation Years. New Haven, 1976.

----- . "Kiowas, Comanches, and Cattlemen, 1867-1906: A Case
Study of the Failure of U.S. Reservation Policy,” Pacific
Historical Review, XL (Aug. 1971), pp. 333-55.

 

----- . “Squaw Men on the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reser-
vation.” In The Frontier Challenge, ed. by John G. Clark.
Lawrence, 1971.

----- . Indian Police and Judges. New Haven, 1966.

----- . "Private Property, The Indian’s Door to Civiliza-
tion." Ethnohistoly, III (Spring 1956), pp. 126-37.

 

Hallowell, A. Irving. Culture and Experience. Philadelphia,
1955.

Hicks, George and Philip E. Leis. Ethnic Encounters:
Identities and Contexts. Belmont, California, 1977.

Hodge, Frederick W., ed. Handbook of Indians North of
Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin No. 30. 2
Vols. Washington, 1910.

Hoebel, E. Adamson. The Cheyennesy Indians pl the Great
Plains. New York, 1960.

Hoyg, Stan. The Peace Chiefs pl the Cheyenne.
Norman, 1980.

298

Indian Rights Association, Annual Reports. Philadel-
phia, 1880-1900.

 

Jablow, Joseph. The Cheyenne lg Plains Indiag Trade
Relations, 1795-1840. American Ethnological Society
Monograph No. 19. New York, 1950.

 

Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine W0man. New
York, 1972.

 

Jones, Douglas C. The Treagy pl Medicine Lodge. Norman,
1966.

 

Kroeber, Alfred L. The Arapaho. American Museum of
Natural History Bulletin lg, V01. XIII. New York, 1902-07.

 

La Barre, Weston. The Peyote Cult. Hamden, Connecticut,
1964.

Leckie, William H. The Military Conquest pl the Southern
Plains. Norman, 1963.

 

Linton, Ralph, ed. Acculturation lg Seven American Indian
Tribes. New York, 1940.

 

 

Llewellyn, Karl N. and E. Adamson Hoebel. The Cheyenne
Way. Norman, 1941.

Lowie, Robert H. ”Societies of the Kiowa,” American
Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers, V01. XI,
Pt. II. New York, 1916.

 

Mardock, Robert W. The Reformers and the American Indian.
Columbia, 1971.

 

Marriott, Alice. Sa nda ’3 People: The Kiowa Indians
and the Stories They Told. L1ncoln, I963.

----- . The Ten Grandmothers. Norman, 1945.

 

299

----- and Carol K. Rachlin. Dance Around the Sun. New York,
1977.

 

----- . Peyote. New York, 1971.

McFee, Malcom. ”The 150% Man, a Product of Blackfoot
Acculturation.” American Anthropologist, 70: 1096-1107.

Mayall, Mildred P. The Kiowas. Norman, 1962.

 

Monahan, Forrest D., Jr. "The Kiowa-Comanche Reservation
in the 1890’s.” Chronicles pl Oklahoma (Winter 1967-68),
pp. 451-63.

Montgomery, David. Beyond §guality. New York, 1967.

Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux
Outbreak pl l890. Fourteenth Annual Re ort of Bureau
pl American Ethnology. Washington, D.C., 1896.

 

 

----- . Calendar History pl the Kiowa Indians. Seventeenth
Annual Report pl Bureau pl American Ethnology.
Washington, 1898.

 

 

----- . The Cheyenne Indians. American Anthropological
Associat1on Memoirs, 1. Lancaster, 1905- 07.

 

 

Nye, Wilbur S. Plains Indian Raiders. Norman, 1968.
----- . Bad Medicine and Good. Norman, 1962.

----- . Carbine and Lance: The Stony pl Old Fort Sill.
Norman, 1938.

Opler, Marvin K., ed. Culture and Mental Health: Cross Cul-
tural Studies. New York, 1959.

 

Otis, Delos S. The Dawes Act and the Allotment of Indian
Landsl ed. Francis P. Prucha. Norman, 1973.

300

Parsons, Elsie Clews. Kiowa Tales. (Memoirs of the American
Folklore Society, XXII.) New York, 1929.

Petersen, Karen D. Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion.
Norman, 1971.

----- . Howling W01f: g Cheyenne Warrior’s Graphic
Interpretation pl his People, intro. by John C. Ewers.
Palo Alto, 1968.

 

 

----- . "The Letters of Henry Roman Nose,” Chronicles
f Oklahoma, 1964.

Powell, Peter J. Sweet Medicine. Norman, 1969.

 

Pratt, Richard H. "Catalogue of Casts Taken by Clark Mills,
Esq., of the Heads of Sixty-four Indian Prisoners of
various Western Tribes and Held at Fort Marion, Saint
Augustine, Fla., in Charge of Capt. R.H. Pratt, U.S.A.'
Proceedings pl the U.S. National Museum, 1878 (1880.)

 

 

----- . Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with
the gmerican Indian, 1867-1904. Ed. by Robert M. Utley.
New Haven, 1964.

 

 

 

 

Priest, Loring B. Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren. New Brunswick,
1942.

Prucha, Francis P. Americanizigg the American Indians:
Writings py the “Friends pl the Indiag,” 1880-1900.
Cambr1dge, 1973.

 

----- . American Indian Polioy lg Crisis: Chriptian
Reformers and the Indiag, 1865-1900. Norman, 1976.

 

Richardson, Jane. Law and Status Among the Kiowa Indians.
American Ethnological Society Monograph No. 11 New York,
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Richardson, Rupert N. The Comanche Barrier lp
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301
Seger, John H. Early Days Among the Cheyennes
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Slotkin, J.S. The Peyote Religion. Glencoe,
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Spicer, Edward H., ed. Perspectives lg American
Indian Culture Change. Chicago, 1961.

 

Spindler, George. ”Experimental Design in the Study of
Culture Change.“ Southwest Journal pl Anthropology, 8:
68-83.

 

 

Spindler, George and Louise. Dreamers Without Power: The
Menomini Indians. New York, 1971.

 

Social Science Research Council. ”Acculturation: An Explora-
tory Formulation (Summer Seminar on Acculturation.) American
Anthropologist, 56: 973-1002.

 

Stone, Lawrence. 'Prosopography.” in Histollcal
Studies Today, ed., by Felix Gilbert and Stephen R.
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Sweezy, Carl. The Arapaho Way: ngemoir pl pg
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Trenholm, Virginia Cole. The Arapahoes: Our People.
Norman, 1970.

Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson Hoebel. The
Comanches, Lords pl the South Plains. Norman, 1952.

 

Webb, Walter Prescott. The Great Plains. New
York, 1931.

White, Leslie A. The Science pl Culture; 5
Study pl Man and Civilization. New York, 1948 (1969.)

 

 

HICH N STRT

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